2020 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Art Series
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Tasting notes
At its best, Margaret River Chardonnay is glorious – and it doesn't get much better than Leeuwin's Art Series. The latest release is another superb example from the team. It's super tight at the moment, with flinty reduction and dominated by the wood on first pour. Give it some time in the glass, however, and it starts to hint at the wine it will be with time in bottle. Honeycomb, lemon pith and toasty notes mingle with fresh green apple fruit that evolves into softer peach and hints of more exotic tones. This needs time to unwind, but has all the makings of top sumptuous Chardonnay that rivals great white Burgundy. If you can resist, wait five years or a decade before cracking this open.
Critic scores
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Current vintage is 2022. Gingin clone planted 1975 and 1977 on free-draining ancient gravel with a clay loam subsoil. Destemmed fruit held on the skins combined with components of whole-bunch-pressed parcels. Settled for 12–36 hours, racked and inoculated with yeast. 100% barrel-fermented in new French oak barriques with regular lees-stirring. After 11 months in barrels, the various components were blended, fined, cold stabilised and bottled. TA 7.3 g/l, pH 3.1. Intense limey-citrus aroma partially hiding the oak, which shows in creamy/mealy aroma rather than spice or toast. Rich in fruit on the palate, too – a full range of citrus flavours with terrific freshness that is completely integrated but lifts the wine and increases the length. Chewy texture, lightly salty finish. (JH)
Full screwcapped bottle just 1,163 g – very cheering for such a famous, respected wine. Like the Pierro, this strikes me as having quite a rich nose, but the acidity seems better integrated and overall it's very nicely balanced, providing ripe fruit as well as refreshment. Some ripe-pear flavours and a hint of hazelnuts. Really lively and confident of its own style and quality. Quite approachable already. Lip-smacking. (JR)
The 2020 Art Series Chardonnay favorably reflects the positive aspects of the 2020 growing season, which was warm and dry, and at that time, it was the earliest harvest start time that Margaret River had experienced. That statistic has since been overtaken by ensuing vintages—2024 is a stark example. This wine is tightly coiled and colored white in its characters: nectarine, white peach, white currant, white pepper and pineapple husk. I recall soon after its release in 2022, I tasted this wine blind at one of my wine group nights, and at that tightly bound stage, I couldn't see Margaret River nor the seasonal warmth in the glass. It has since fleshed out somewhat and now is looking more like its place and year. The acidity is juicy and almost puckering in its intensity, and it lingers long after the wine has gone. Sealed under screw cap.
About the producer
Leeuwin Estate is one of Australia’s leading wine producers. Based close to Cape Leeuwin, in the southern reaches of Margaret River, Western Australia, this remote estate is best known for its Art Series wines.