Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2019
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James
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The palate is bright and energetic, with laced mineral acidity. Bursting lemon, lime and pear skin meet oyster shell and saline notes, providing a precise corridor and direction. Gently coiled textures give lateral capacity and dimension.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay on release is an achingly painful thing to drink, because once you've known the utter pleasure these wines bring at 5 or more years of age, it becomes a mess of cognitive dissonance to drink them so young. They are closed, taut, coiled, but more than anything, populated by rippling fruit that undulates untold through the interminably long finish. They typically don't reveal their kaleidoscopic spice and prismatic fruit flavour until a little further down the track. So, all I can humbly do here, is place the vintage in context. Through the lens of the cool year, this glitters with a purity and finesse that is deeply attractive. Aligned in style with the 2017.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Art Series Chardonnay is filling out beautifully, within the confines of its svelte, mineral form. The vintage was cooler and later than either of the vintages either side, and the wines are aromatic and detailed by virtue of that. I'd still recommend leaving this wine in bottle for another couple of years; they are so slow to evolve that the primary fruit remains vital for at least the first decade. The benefit of waiting gives you extra complexity layered over the fruit, which blooms and plumes with time. The winemaking remains relatively consistent across the years: hand-picked fruit from Block 20 and 22 (planted in 1976 and 1978, respectively). Up to 30% of the cuvée was whole bunch pressed to 100% new Burgundian oak, while the balance was destemmed, crushed and pressed to 100% new Bordelais oak.
Rating: 97+
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Wine Spectator
Succulent and distinctive, this white opens with notes of crème fraîche, tahini and salted butterscotch that are aromatic and appealing, backed by hints of fresh-grated ginger and mouthwatering acidity and leading to a vibrant, juicy mouthful of dried pineapple, pomelo and yuzu flavors at the core. The elements are all in balance, and the tension between them yields a complex, stunning wine. Drink now
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Wine Enthusiast
There’s a heady, floral perfume to this Chard, from one of Margaret River’s best known estates. Orchard blossom mingles with melon, pear and citrus fruit, along with sprinklings of toast, salt and a smoky nuance. The palate is light-to-mid weight, with bright, bouncy acidity. It deftly balances the toasty oak and lees characters with the juicy citrus flavors.
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James Suckling
This has inviting aromas of white grapefruits, peach pits, lime curd, white flowers and some freshly grated nutmeg. Scallop and oyster shells, too. Medium-bodied, elegant yet powerful, with creamy and phenolic layers and delicious saline and flinty edges.
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In 1972, legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Robert Mondavi, first identified the future site of the Leeuwin vineyard as being ideal for the production of premium wine and provided early mentorship to owners, Denis and Tricia Horgan in the establishment of Leeuwin Estate. The first vines were planted by hand over a five year period from 1973.
Featuring state-of-the art facilities, the winery building was opened in 1978, celebrating with a trial vintage. Leeuwin enjoyed its first commercial vintage in 1979, and was thrust into the international spotlight when Decanter Magazine gave its highest recommendation to the 1980 "Art Series" Chardonnay in an international blind tasting.
Maintaining a team of highly skilled and dedicated winemakers, Leeuwin Estate is now under the direction of two generations of the founding family.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Home to some of Australia’s most elegant and long-lived red and white wines, Margaret River is situated in the farthest reaches of Western Australia. Relatively warm and dry, the region is cooled by breezes from the Indian Ocean. Margaret River takes some inspiration from Bordeaux, producing top-quality Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux Blends with firm structure, mouthwatering acidity, balanced alcohol and notes of herbs and spice. For white wines, refreshing blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon as well as complex, age-worthy Chardonnays are regional specialties.