St John's Road

PL Eden Valley Chardonnay

• 

  Vintage 2017
  93 points

'PL' (aka Phil Lehmann son of legendary winemaker Peter Lehmann) is an extraordinary winemaker. In this example, he puts the wine through malolactic fermentation (softening the acid to give creaminess) before regular fermentation - a unique winemaking process which he says results in better integration and balance. Well we can't argue, this wine is a terrific example of modern Australian Chardonnay. It has lots of rich interesting flavours like fig and roasted hazelnut but most importantly, it still has lovely finesse and freshness. A crowd-pleasing style.

• 

  Vintage 2017
  90 points

Fermented in new and 1yo French hogsheads held at 2 degrees C ‘to slow fermentation'. Reversed ferment isn't that, it appears that 60% was taken through mlf before alcoholic fermentation, the whole process including both fermentations and maturation taking 10 months. The wine certainly ends up tight, arguably too much so, but it scores for interest.