Wine Note (December 2020)
Padthaway is a quality Australian wine region. In Oz terms it’s near Adelaide but actually it’s 200 miles southeast. The area is well known for chardonnay, due to its Mediterranean climate.
The classic Australian basic chardonnay style was once like that of a Bondi Beach lifeguard – bronze-coloured and unsubtle. It was over-oaky and lacked acidity – you wouldn’t want a second glass. Then the pendulum swung too far the other way; too many cheap wines were pale and neutral with high acidity.
You can now find a happy medium, as this wine shows. Its cool-climate peach character is balanced against flavours and aromas picked up by aging the wine on its lees. There’s no oak, but you’re unlikely to find it at this price anyway.
The wine hasn’t enough intensity or body to stand up to Christmas turkey, but it would go very well with white fish or salmon.
John Freeland (U3A Wine Tasting Group)
Isabel Cullum
