This is the current release Lake’s Folly white, although I believe it sells out rather quickly, so its currency is rather academic. Lake’s Folly, as a winery, fascinates me. It is historic in terms of the modern Australian wine industry, has deviated little from its original purpose (releasing just two wines each year, and white and a red), exists in a currently daggy wine region and seems to fly under the radar most of the time. And yet its wines remain sought after. I think that’s pretty cool.
Redbank The Long Paddock Chardonnay 2007
I’m not familiar with this label but, according to the winery’s tasting note, grapes were sourced from across Victoria after bushfires affected its traditional regional base of the King and Ovens Valleys. That’s some pretty cool one off-ness for a paltry $9.50. I remember the days (not very long ago) of cheap Chardonnay oaked so heavily one practically got splinters in the mouth. I’m sure they’re still out there, but the vogue for tighter, finer wines seems to to have stimulated a fresh breed of cheapies. Or so I hope.
Domaine Gautheron Chablis 1er Cru Vaucoupin 2005
It’s a balmy Summer’s Winter’s evening here in Brisbane, and I’m in the mood for Chablis. Handily, I had this lying around the house. This particular wine sees no oak at all, so in theory should express pure Chardonnay fruit and, one hopes, its corresponding terroir.
Domaine Emilian Gillet Viré-Clessé Quintaine 2002
A slightly older white Burgundy this time, which will hopefully come as a relief after a slew of younger siblings. As an aside, at Full Pour we taste wines in a “real world” context as much as possible, which often means a single bottle at a time, often sipped slowly all evening. This serves to highlight the role of variety in enjoyment. A self-confessed addict of difference, I find working my way through a series of similar wines both highly revealing and slightly boring at the same time. Still, there are worse things I could do…
Pretty golden hay colour, good clarity. A really seductive nose, with rich almond, grapefruit, butter, and some clear botrytis influence. It’s a wine that reaches out of the glass and sucks you in without resorting to excess vulgarity — sort of like the difference between someone with a magnetic personality versus someone who is just loud. There are also hints of roast nut and spice that add complexity to the aroma profile. The palate delivers solidly on the nose. Entry is slippery-slidey, without any acidic harshness and yet showing freshness and vitality. Rich, round fruit builds on the tongue towards the middle palate, just as some acid structure starts to tingle on the edges of the tongue. Despite the freshness, this is a relaxed, generous wine that you don’t have to work especially hard to enjoy. A lot of this is to do with the ultra silky mouthfeel that balances slipperiness with acidity most satisfyingly. More citrus fruit and hints of sweet honey coat the tongue. The savoury nut/oak observed on the nose props up the fruit flavour in balanced fashion. If it’s not quite as complex as the nose suggests, this is easily compensated by the smooth, easy elegance of this wine. A nutty lift through the after palate keeps on rising through a very satisfying, flavoursome finish. Yum!
I’m tempted to say this wine lacks a certain sophistication, but that’s not quite right. It’s breezy yet substantial, and echoes a sense of generous provincial hospitality. Its mix of fresh and ultra-ripe notes is, I find, beguiling. Delicious, bloody good value, and quite different from all the other white Burgundies recently tasted.
Domaine Emilian Gillet
Price: $A34
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: June 2008
Tyrrell's Vat 47 Chardonnay 2007
Juicy Fruit esters spurt from the glass at first, with white stone fruit and a hint of cream. Squeaky clean, very fresh, floral and powdery in character. With some enthusiastic swirling, astringent herbal aromas also start to emerge, adding complexity and edge. It’s evolving quickly in the glass, which makes for an interesting companion if sipped slowly through the evening. Am I detecting the slightest hint of honey, even? Wishful thinking, perhaps.Flavoursome entry; fruit registers early in the wine’s line. Acidity is prominent and a little rough and ready, adding a rustic sourness to the flavour profile. Fruit continues in a white stone fruit vein, but with the addition of lemon-like citrus flavours that recall young Hunter Semillon. It’s quite intense and extremely lively on the tongue; we’re a long way from flabby New World Chardonnay of years past. Firm, defined thrust through the after palate as the acid carries increasingly citrus-like fruit flavour through to the finish. There’s a little lift, or perhaps even some alcohol heat on the finish, and the wine’s density does fall away somewhat precipitously towards the end of its line. But the finish is long and tasty and only promises good things.Yummy wine. This lacks the extra complexity of a really top Vat 47, but is nonetheless a delicious drink and one with a promising future over the mid-term. I’m betting this will be great with fish and chips. An iconic Aussie Chardonnay for the price of lesser village-level white Burgundy or generic Bourgogne.Tyrrell’sPrice: $A35Closure: StelvinDate tasted: June 2008
Lake's Folly Chardonnay 2005
Made in small quantities, the Lake’s Folly white wine is a Chardonnay benchmark of sorts in Australia, albeit one that seems to be labelled “old fashioned” whenever it is mentioned. As a firm believer in the transcendence of style over fashion, I don’t see this as necessarily a bad thing. What I’m more interested in, after tasting my way through a few white Burgundies of similar price, is how this wine stacks up stylistically and in terms of value. Quite a rich, golden green colour. The nose shows a controlled burst of flavour, from pure fruit notes to those rooted firmly in winemaking. Rich oatmeal and cream mixes with round yet fresh Chardonnay fruit. The fruit here is a mix of yellow stonefruit and citrus, and to me smells brilliantly judged in terms of complexity and balance. Despite all the notes on offer, the whole is restrained, keeping its reserves of depth and power in check. The palate shows excellent continuity from the nose in terms of overall flavour profile. A fine acid backbone carries intense, tasty fruit down well defined, yet large scale, structure. By that I mean that it’s not a wine that shoots down the middle of the tongue in a narrow line. Rather, it spreads across the tongue but always maintains poise and flow, never lapsing into laziness. More stone and citrus fruit, spice and creaminess, even some tasty minerality, all the elements tipped towards generosity, again in the context of a clear acid structure. The after palate tapers off quite steeply into a cut apple note, before a subtle acid-driven finish of excellent length.A contradictory wine at this stage of its life, as the flavour profile suggests a generous, flavoursome wine, but (thanks to the acid) one that isn’t able to fully express itself. All it needs is some time to relax. It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, an utterly different style from any of the white Burgundies tasted of late, although I should note that I’ve hardly sampled a complete cross section. Not an inexpensive wine; however, placed in this context, I think the Lake’s Folly Chardonnay represents excellent value. Lake’s Folly
Price: $A50
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail
Domaine Alain Chavy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly 2005
Such is the allure of the great vineyards of Burgundy that those sites with any connection, however tenuous, to vines of renown are almost relentlessly flogged as such. Who am I to buck the trend? En Remilly, the source of this wine, is usually mentioned in the same breath as Le Montrachet, as it is on the same slope above its more famous neighbour. Does proximity to greatness mean anything in this hottest of terroir hotbeds?
The nose certainly promises good things. It’s soft, delicate, and rounded, with floral notes dominating a background of subtle cashew oak, lovely flint and even some banana. Smelling this wine is like sniffing a well-planned garden just coming into bloom. It has the same freshness and intermingled complexity of aroma.
The palate takes these elements and amplifies them, while retaining a similar balance. The entry displays fresh, fine acidity that lingers on the tip of the tongue, then leads the way to the mid-palate ahead of delicate yet persistent fruit flavour. There’s still tight focus as we reach the wine’s mid-point, but the flavour profile by now shows its full spectrum of elements. Lightfooted citrus fruit and flinty minerality are the key ingredients, and play off each other beautifully. There’s also some creaminess and lightly nutty oak in the background. The fruit is clingy but not cloying, thanks to the freshness of the acidity, and shows great definition. Structure relaxes a little out as it moves through the after palate, and spreads the same clingy fruit throughout the mouth ahead of an impressively long finish.
The wine continued to improve and gain weight all evening, and I think reached its peak at a relatively warm temperature (just lightly chilled), so don’t be afraid to serve it even warmer than you might other Chardonnays. It’s not a blockbuster by any means, as it showcases delicacy and balance above power. But it’s pure and balanced and deliciously intense. A lovely style and one of my favourites in the recent pack of white Burgundies tasted at Full Pour. Good value.
Domaine Alain Chavy
Price: $A44
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: June 2008
Domaine du Clos Salomon Givry 1er Cru la Grande Berge 2005
Distinctive, sharp nose that is part oak, part chalky mineral note (almost lipsticky in character). There may be a bit of sulfur still floating around in there, but the wine’s minerality seems more terroir-driven. There’s also some fruit, austerely honeydew melon like, and a bit of creaminess too. Entry is crisp and finely acidic, with fruit flavour that builds along the wine’s line. It’s almost like flavour starts to radiate out from a focused structural line, and it’s only towards the mid-palate that you realise the fruit here is actually quite intense and assertive. Flavour profile is firmly in line with the nose, in that it’s almost entirely savoury and tilted towards a funky minerality that will be, I’d wager, a matter of taste. Oak is present, for sure, but not a dominant feature. The sulfur is a bit distracting to me, so I hope some time in bottle (or even glass) will help that to disappear. Some rounded fruit emerges as the wine leaves the mid-palate, and it’s this slightly softer note that carries through the after palate onto the lengthy, and somewhat chalky, finish. I’m going to see how this goes through the evening and report back.Well, a little time (an hour perhaps) in the glass, and this wine is presenting well. It’s still a savoury, structured wine, but given this, it’s well balanced and shows good intensity with impressive length. There are also some additional fruit notes, tropical in character, that have started to peak out from under the savouriness. A really characterful wine. Clos SalomonPrice: $A37Closure: CorkDate tasted: May 2008
Domaine Rapet Père et Fils Pernand 1er Cru Sous Frétille 2005
And now we begin on the 1er Cru white Burgundies, albeit those from lesser appellations. We’ve already tasted this maker’s Pernand-Vergelesses village-level wine, which was a tasty, albeit not especially refined, drop. This wine, at $A59, is $A12 more expensive. What does this extra money buy the punter?
A fair degree more refinement, as it turns out, although the character of the wine is broadly in line with the village wine. The nose shows toasty almond, caramel and soft melon fruit, which sounds sloppy but is in fact crisp and well defined. Entry is sufficiently acidic to prop up more flavours of almond paste and caramel butter, with some citrus and stone fruit, and an overall impression of baked things. I like the way the wine is fresh and well structured without being forbidding, a hint of mineral contributing to this sense of vitality. Intensity is notable, and the wine seems intent on finding every corner of the mouth and staying put. The slightly lifted after palate shows good extension through the back of the mouth, and the finish is well shaped and of good length.
All in all, I like this wine’s flavour profile and sense of style. It’s a lot more refined than the village wine, although I still wouldn’t call it the ultimate in sophistication. I should note that the other half took an instant, firm dislike to this wine’s flavours, finding them unpleasantly sharp and perhaps even volatile. I can understand that point of view, as there’s a pungent, perhaps herbal edge to the wine’s flavour profile that may not be to everyone’s taste.
Update: I left half a bottle in the fridge for two days and am consuming the remainder now. It has come together well, with flavours further integrating and becoming less angular, though it’s still an assertive, distinctive wine. Nice wine if you like the style.
Domaine Rapet Père et Fils
Price: $A59
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: May 2008
Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet Les Charmes 2005
At $A55, this is the most expensive white Burgundy so far amongst the 2005s recently tasted by me on Full Pour, and approximately equivalent (with the dollar the way it is) in price to the Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard tasted by Chris the other day. Unlike that wine, this is classified as village-level. We’re still playing at the lower end of the price scale as far as these wines are concerned, but at twice the cost of some wines tasted earlier in this series, one could rightly expect a corresponding increase in quality.A fresh, relatively full nose of round citrus and melon fruit, and a hint of caramel. There are also powdery notes, part floral and part mineral, that add a whole layer of high toned complexity. It’s altogether very attractive, though tight and coiled too. Entry is clean and crisp, with a lovely fresh mouthfeel and bright acidity counterbalanced by impressively intense fruit that builds towards the mid-palate. There are some subtle winemaker inputs here (a hint of butterscotch and spice) but it’s primarily a fruit-driven wine. The tasty fruit is all about grapefruity citrus flavour and, as the after palate begins, the fruit explodes out of its focused centre to coat the insides of the mouth with surprising, quite pleasing aggressiveness. The effect, combined with the wine’s acid structure, is mouthwatering. Nice focus through the finish.It’s a little austere at the moment, but this wine is clearly a good one, with a nice line through the palate and good fruit. I’d love to see this in a little while, when hopefully the acidity will have integrated somewhat and allowed the fruit to flow more liberally. Domaine Alain ChavyPrice: $A55Closure: CorkDate tasted: May 2008