The 2016 Art Series Chardonnay is showing its oak at this stage, but the fruit behind it is as powerful and overflowing as it must be in order to dovetail with its élevage in 100% new French oak. On the nose, you get...
The 2016 Art Series Chardonnay is showing its oak at this stage, but the fruit behind it is as powerful and overflowing as it must be in order to dovetail with its élevage in 100% new French oak. On the nose, you get flowers and leaves; it has a wonderful "bush" aroma of eucalypt, spring flowers, pink grapefruit, white pepper, bay leaf and even a hint coriander. The wine is velvety and sapid, with layers upon layers of flavor bound by invisible threads of salty acidity. It's savory; there's graphite, there's minerality, there's white spice; and to accompany it, there are lashings of ripe orchard fruit. It's a superb wine. I remember seeing this last year and thinking, "Now is about the right time to start drinking these wines" (i.e., seven years on from harvest), and I'd endorse that window again today. Sealed under screw cap. - Erin Larkin