Tns: 2012 Chardonnays incl Yattarna, Fevre Les Clos and Batard Montrachet

WINE TALK
1

All wines served blind to 30 winemakers, sparking some healthy debate. 2012 was an excellent year in most parts of Oz and pretty handy in Burgundy.
On balance teh Australian’s performed very strongly, despite small sample set of ‘others’. There has been quite a shift in style of local Chards in last decade, with more emphasis on cooler sites, wild yeasts, more lees work and finer, flintier, lower alcohol styles. The use of screw cap has also enhanced the freshness of the wines.
2012 Fevre Les Clos
Restrained green apple and citrus, leaner palate with firm acid palate of good persistence. Some florals showing on the nose. Good length of flavour.
2012 McWilliams Tumbarumba 842
Tumbarumba is a high altitude region of the Snowys.
Heavier mouthfeel, riper style than previous wine. White stone fruits with good persistence. Feels a bit hotter in the mouth but still very good.

2012 Joseph Cromy (Tasmania)
Darker, more golden appearance with more oak influence. Nose a bit closed. Strong acid with some oak on back palate. Little to no malo evident. Good.

2012 Bellwether (Tasmania)
Nashi pear, spicy oak notes. Viscous, riper mouthfeel of good weight. Nicely crafted, but would like to see a bit more rapier acidity on finish.

2012 Penfolds Yattarna
Fine, fine, tight citrus palate. Little discernible oak and mouthwatering, searing acidity on finish. Built for the long haul and leaves the palate salivating for more. Kind of like a good fino in that regard. Incredible length. Wine of the day.

2012 Seppelt Drumborg (Henty)
Finer, cool climate style, but lacks dimension of previous wine. Has good balance, but at this stage looks a bit mono dimensional. Would like to see in a couple of years.
2012 Oakridge 864 ‘Willow lake’(yarra Valley)
Another fine and flinty wine with generous reverberating acidity, minimal malo. Subtle oak supports pristine white stone fruits. Lovely wine.
2012 Thomas-Morey Batard Montrachet
More golden in colour, showing riper, less aromatic nose. Not giving much on palate with fruits tending towards tropicals. It is out of sync at this stage and many felt that cork is major culprit for relatively poor showing. Not cork taint just not as fresh as it should be.

2012 Giaconda (Beechworth)
Polarising wine. Cheesy and leesy, a bit funky, not 100% bright. Worked style with viscous mouthfeel. Love or hate wine. Certainly complex.

2012 Vasse Felix Heytesbury (Margaret River)
White stone fruits with dusting of spice. Good rich palate with adequate acidity. Very good wine.
2012 Faiveley Meursault Charmes
More golden, less stone fruits, more savoury. Nicely balanced wine of good richness, but feels a little coarse on the back end. Another wine that split the room.

2

I like the 864. And I also like the recent vintages of Penfolds reserve Bin but May be I need to try the Yattarna from the 2012 vintage.

Giaconda 2012 has had a lot of good press. But reading your report I think I need to assess it myself to where I stand.

3

Oakridge are doing great things with both Chardonnay & Pinot Noir. Had a great tasting there in June with the winemaker. Their 864 Chards are amongst the very best in Oz.
Haven’t seen a Yattarna for a decade. This one blew me away.

4

Kent have you tried the “local vineyard” series chards from Oakridge? Available here locally in Calif.

5

The only one that I tried was the JJ D’Aloisio that was really good, from a cooler part of the valley.

6

Great thanks - have a few coming.

7

Kent
Has the 2012 Yattarna been released? Do you know just retail price is?

8

I served the 1998 and 1999 Yattarna last month at Leo’s Blind Tasting Group. They were outstanding, an opinion concurred in by many of those present. I had never had Yattarna before but I am looking for more.

PS - No Premox!

9

Kent, I quite like Philip White’s note on the 2012 Yattarna and have posted it below.

Best Regards
Jeremy

Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2012
$150; 13.2% alcohol; screw cap; 95+ points

Suddenly the Abrams tank model Yattarna which I really liked, 2011, driven by Gertrude Stein, looks even heavier. In contrast, this is the ’62 Ferrari 250 GTO: the most sought-after, elegant Ferrari of all. The one that went for $US38 million at auction in August. Ultra lightweight/heavy-horsepower business, near the edge yacht designer Ben Lexcen sharpened when he said: “If it won’t break, it’s too heavy.”

Through precise vineyard selection in Tasmania’s Derwent and Coal Valleys, Henty in Victoria, and the Adelaide Hills, this wine’s many bits have been fitted and amalgamated in a way that purrs such taut power and finesse. And Audrey Hepburn’s driving.

Change gears. Racing chassis apart, car 2012 smells like a frothy zabaglione on lightly poached clingstone peach, sliced real thin, and served with amaretti. There’s nothing thick or gloopy about it. Which is a relief. But I could sit here for a week, dreaming up all the nuts, berries and fruits it brings to mind, and miss the fact that all those many individual components are working altruistically for the good of the mob, not the individual. Only together do they have strength.

Precisely how those myriad shards of this and that come together to form Audrey Hepburn driving a 250 GTO beats me.

It’ll easily handle 10 years of cellar. But with Audrey at the tiller – on Ferrari or Vespa, I don’t care – I’ll plan on getting through the next year or so. Go for lots of laughter. Put wheels on footpath and share that zabaglione with the peach and amaretti and argue happily about all these mad theories.

10

Phillip White affords the wine the respect it deserves. Phillip is a great writer when he is on.

Sanjay, I am not 100% certain but I think it is released later this month with the rest of the ultra-premiums.

11

Thanks for posting Kent

Yattarna certainly appears to be living up to its promised billing. I’m loving them with a decade of age but will have to try the 12 young especially after those notes.

As a lover of giaconda the 12 left me very cold. First time it hasn’t floated my boat. Do you think it will come around with age?

Don

12

I really don’t know Don. I have some truly great older Giacondas and also some that developed quite quickly.

13

Just had the 2012 Fevre Les Clos again today. Maybe it’s out of place in the line up you had, but for my tastes it’s a damn fine wine, full of granite and saline.

14

Alan,
The wine looked good, but inevitably in a line up and exercise like this, one looks for the negatives instead of the positives. Would like to sit down with a bottle of it with some oysters.
Cheers,
Kent

15

Funny, that was exactly the theme of yesterday’s tasting group! Certainly a good match for oysters and crab.

16

2012 Thomas-Morey Batard Montrachet
More golden in colour, showing riper, less aromatic nose. Not giving much on palate with fruits tending towards tropicals. It is out of sync at this stage and many felt that cork is major culprit for relatively poor showing. Not cork taint just not as fresh as it should be.


snap

just tried a bottle of this a few weeks ago
and it was tropical city
not my style at all big and blousy

sounds like yours

what are the 1er like from 2012 from Morey ?

17

Haven’t tried them Michel, but 10s and 11s lovely minerally, taut expressions.

18

thanks kimosabe