2019 Lingua Franca Chardonnay Estate
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Tasting notes
The 2019 Chardonnay Estate is scented of matchstick, lemon cream, roasted almonds, pastry and red apples. The palate is fresh, focused and precise, with a particularly silky texture, alluring savory undertones and a flourish of floral perfume on the long finish. It's wonderful right now but will benefit from another 2-3 years in bottle.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Lively ‘green’ fruit and a juicy texture. Lots of racy acidity. More fluid and transparent than the (good-value) Berry Bros & Rudd own-label Sonoma Chardonnay. (JR)
From a bench site with eastern-facing exposure, the 2019 Chardonnay Estate leads with lime-citrus, white flowers, savory tarragon, and smoky earth, while the palate is fresh with pear, peach, lime zest, and chalky fresh earth. This elegant white has a soft texture without being austere, delivering fresh acidity and citrus, and its floral profile continues on the finish with great finesse. Drink 2022-2032.
The fruit was field-sorted, hand-picked, then whole-cluster pressed, settled in tank for 24 hours on average, barrel-fermented with indigenous yeast with 40% in 600-litre puncheons and 60% in old French oak barriques from diverse coopers and left to age for 11 months. Full malolactic conversion completed spontaneously in each barrel. The wines were combined in tank with their lees for five months prior to bottling. Very crisp acidity and crystalline structure but the flavour seems perhaps a little more dominated by winery than vineyard? Light and crisp with a hint of pear drops. Precise rather than hugely pleasurable at this stage. (JR)