2008 Chardonnay Margaret River

Lemony and interesting on the nose. Off dry and tight. Very much archetypal ‘new’ Australian Chardonnay with some real tension though not exactly bone dry. Great texture. And good concentration. Persistent. (JR)

Recently released after 1 year in barrel and 1 year in bottle and marking Pierro's 25th vintage of its flagship Chardonnay, the 2008 Chardonnay celebrates this anniversary on a high. It reveals a wonderfully expressive nose of oatmeal, apricots, passion fruit, butterscotch and some chalk and possesses that classic sulphide character undercurrent. There's great satiny texture in the medium to full bodied mouth with crisp acidity that gives wonderful freshness. It has a very long, layered finish. Though tempting to drink now, better to let it cellar a year or two and drink 2012 to 2018+. Pierro's Dr. Mike Peterkin informed me that he produces the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc LTC in a style built to age. It is mostly stainless steel fermented with a small proportion of oak influence. From the early days Mike set-out to produce his flagship Chardonnay in a dogmatically Burgundian style, right down to naturally occurring malo-lactic. Funny thing was that malo-lactic bacteria isn't indigenous to the region, so he had to have a culture specially flown-in back in 1986 to introduce to his winery. Today the wine remains 100% barrel fermented, employing about 50% new French oak barriques and 50% one year. Bucking the recent trend in this region, it still (spontaneously) goes through 100% malo-lactic. Pierro does not currently have a USA importer but exports to most other major markets.