2013 Tolpuddle Chardonnay

Where the cool 2012 vintage shows almond meal and oat at this 10-year interval, the nine-year-old 2013 Chardonnay hails from a warm vintage, and that has built a robustness into the wine. This is powerful and long, with no break in programming over the palate. It’s seriously good, seriously fresh and full. The acidity is saline and refreshing, and it's woven with invisible threads throughout each part of the wine. With incredible intensity and lingering fruit, it’s simply awesome. This has entered a new phase of drinking here, reaching an apogee moment in time. Sensational.

Winemaker Adam Wadewitz ’s first year. Hill Smith described the scene when Wadewitz first encountered Tolpuddle fruit in the vineyard: 'He's there with Ray Guerin the viticulturist, three weeks before harvest. Guerin, confident of a positive reaction, says nothing. Adam picks up a Chardonnay grape and says "oh my God".' Slow ripening, high acid and concentration is the hallmark of 2013 which was a slightly warmer year than some. But the wine still didn’t go through full malo (just 60–70%) because Wadewitz knew it was a somewhat warmer year. Much richer nose with real breadth. This wine, unlike the 2012, has some fruit at its core and real precision and a crystalline structure. Though there is still no hurry to drink it! (JR)

This label is certain to grace some of the greatest Aus pinots and chardonnays in the years ahead, the vineyard (planted in '88) a Tasmanian jewel. The most remarkable part of this wine is its combination of finesse, length and intensity of varietal fruit flavour, in turn based on the laser etching of Tasmanian acidity.