Now lets venture north towards Adelaide Hills which is also a cool climate althought it has more sunshine hours. This area still has the ocean factors of cooling sea breezes but not as much as Mornington Penninsula. What makes Adelaide Hills such a special place to grow Chardonnay is due to its evlavation. The central part can reach between 650-700m in altitude. This means cooler conditions and a large diurnal range where it can reach temperatures of 30 degress in the day and fall to 12 degrees at night. So it is key to select the correct vineyard inorder to either get an fresher/ light chardonnay or a fuller/ fattier chardonnay.
- Low altitude, west facing slopes – Fuller/ Fattier Chardonnays
- High altitude, higher diurnal ranges – Fresher/ Light Chardonnays
Adelaide Hills has two official sub regions that are at the highest altitude, Lenswood and Piccadilly Valley. Both areas reach up to 600m in altitude although Piccadilly Valley has lighter rainfall than Lenswood. Jimmy and Emma continued taking us on a journey through our different chardonnays focusing on these two regions.
Wine No.6 – Shaw + Smith, M3 Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills (Lenswood) 2022
Shaw + Smith was established in 1989 by cousins Micheal Hill-Smith and Martin Shaw. ‘M3’ in the name of the wine includes Matthew who no longer works with the company. Their approach is to manage vineyard sustainably, valuing vine and soil health and low yields. This winery has gone through the change of different styles of chardonnays. 20 years ago, the vineyards were much lower down the hills so the wines were much richer and bolder. Then they moved up the hill 10 years later to achieve the delicate chardonnays we have today. The quality of these wines is exceptional especially at their price point. Jimmy uses this wine for his WSET3 and Diploma course. (I know as I have tried them).
Jimmy wanted to showcase a much younger wine that has potential for ageing. It was interesting to taste how much potential this wine has. Emma agreed that this wine was a similar style to the Kooyong, Farrago 2012 with a leaner, floral and mineral balance.
Wine No. 7 – Petaluma, Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills (Piccadilly Valley) 2017
Petaluma was founded in 1976 which is built on their strong believes to carefully select the finest viticultural sites and the right grape varieties that suit the area. This vineyard is located in Piccadilly Valley which is nestled behind Mount Lofty which gives this wine in particular delicate/ light flavours with high acidity. This style of chardonnay is less new oak with a fresher and riper style.
Wine No.8 – Grosset, Piccadilly, Adelaide Hills 2009
Grosset started in the 1980s mainly based in the Clare Valley. Renowned winemaker Jeffery Grosset embarked on a journey to craft exceptional wines and is famous for his Rieslings. This wine is from a very small vineyard in Piccadilly, Adelaide Hills which as only produced 300 cases (6 bottles per case). This vintage of 2009 had a wet winter but a brutal summer with a very bad heat wave. This makes the wine more powerful and dense with smoky oak notes not from the oak but from ageing. Also, there are tertiary notes of mushroom and fungal notes.
The journey has come along on with this online session so impressive! To experience different vintages as well as different areas is really special. It’s so interesting to see the transformation how much chardonnays have changed from the fuller bodied to the lighter more delicate bodied wines in the Adelaide Hills.
Sharing my wine knowledge 