Allegiance Wines Unity Chardonnay 2025
- 92
- $70
- Drink by: 2026-2033
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Anyone searching for cool climate Australian Chardonnay need look no further. This wine is from a single vineyard in the Tumbarumba region, which is part of the Snowy Mountains, and the coolest region for viticulture on the mainland. Fermentation was in a combination of French oak barriques and hogsheads, 15% new. The wine then spends around six months maturation on lees. Pale straw in colour, there is good intensity to this wine. The nose reveals notes of stone fruits, florals, honeysuckle, glacéd lemon and peaches and it finishes with a hint of grapefruit. A supple texture, this is a wine of medium length with zesty acidity and a lingering finish. To be enjoyed over the next four to seven years, though it has room for improvement over that time and likely beyond.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
