I had this with food; specifically, a creamy chicken pasta dish. With a few minutes in the glass, this wine gave off aromas of roasted nuts, vanilla, coffee and spice (presumably oak derived), light sulfur, along with cool climate chardonnay fruit (white stone fruit, etc). It’s an attractive nose, with good volume and flavour integration, quite complex really.

The wine’s entry is smooth and focused, leading to a mid-palate that is again focused and reasonably intense. Flavours show tight preserved lemon and a range of noticeable, though not overwhelming, oak notes. There’s a nice crescendo of flavour towards the after palate, and this ensures pleasing persistence through the tight, acid-driven finish. This is an elegant wine of reasonable complexity. To return to the starting point, this wine went extremely well with food, graced as it is with ample acidity. It doesn’t jump out at me as a ‘wow’ wine in any particular way, but it’s also rather hard to fault. Excellent value.

Update: on the second night, this wine had upped the intensity an extra notch, without losing its focus and structure. I’m feeling happy to have bought a few of these.

Hoddles Creek
Price: $A18
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007