2016 Bell Hill Chardonnay
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Tasting notes
Warm growing season and normal crop. Bit of rain in March but generally a decent season. Blend of Shelf, Roadblock and Limeworks blocks. 12 months in French oak (20% new) followed by 7 months in tank. Very burgundian ‘mealiness’ on the nose. More obvious evolution than the slightly fossilised 2010. Lots of pure green fruit and real edginess and tension. More backward than most 2016 white burgundies! Smoky, long finish. Massive acidity. Still youthful! (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Hailing from a warm and dry season, this is a powerful, ripe style, offering intense aromas and flavors of peach, grilled hazelnuts and flint. It has the structural componentry of a grand cru: full in body, dense in concentration and silken in texture, it is a deeply satisfying, savory wine with long length. The finish has great precision and purpose. While the ripeness of this wine means you can approach it now, its tight structural corset suggests it will hold together for at least 6–10 years.
Very intense, very refined and very complex chardonnay with a lemon, yellow-grapefruit and white-peach nose, as well as flinty, stony notes. Continues with a very intense palate that has cool, white and yellow peach flavors and a chiseled, refined long finish. Superior power and refined, pristine fruit here. Drink now. Screw cap.