2018 Yattarna
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Tasting notes
Penfolds’ top Chardonnay has gone from strength to strength over the last decade. The fruit is sourced exclusively from cool-climate sites in Tasmania, Tumbarumba and the Adelaide Hills. Aged for eight months in 60% new oak, with the only sulphur added at bottling, it’s a gorgeous wine – and one that is still a baby, three years after its initial release. The wine is marked by gunflint reduction at first, but beneath that is a wine that oozes fresh peach fruit with lemon bite and creamy complexity bringing textural depth to match the pure and vibrant fruit. Flinty minerality drives a long and impressive finish.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
UC Davis I10V5 and Bernard 96 clones in Tumbarumba, Tasmania and Adelaide Hills. Average vine age is 25 years. Hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed, yeast culture used. Lees stirred in barrel every 2 weeks for the 8 months in barrel and 2 months in stainless steel prior to bottling. 100% fermented and matured in French oak barriques. 100% through malolactic conversion. 8 months in French oak (60% new, 34% one year old and 6% old barriques). Crossflow filtered. TA 7 g/l, pH 3.02. Looks and smells very youthful. As with the 2022, the fruit is clearly cool-climate citrus with just a touch of something attractively herbal. So many layers, even more when you put the wine in your mouth. A little more obviously oaky/creamy on the palate. Elegant, fresh and long. Complex yet subtle. (JH)
This bottle was sourced from within the UK. Racy and green-fruited. Lots to chew on. Very promising. (JR)
The 2018 Yattarna Chardonnay leads with marzipan and apple skins, white pepper, scratched citrus, crushed shells, saffron and sugared almonds. In the mouth, the wine is insanely silken and composed, like carded fleece, and the length of flavor feels interminable. This has aged what feels like about three seconds—it is timeless, ageless, restrained and long. Wow. If you can drink these wines from this age window and onward, you will be doing yourself the greatest service. This is a first-rate Chardonnay. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
About the producer
Penfolds is Australia’s most famous wine producer, known best for their iconic top wine, Grange. First produced commercially in 1952, Grange has since gone on to become one of the world’s most famous fine wines. In 2001, the wine was listed as an Australian heritage icon.