Artis Wine Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2018
- 94
- $45
- Drink by: 2022-2030
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This wine must hold a special place in, winemaker, Andrew Miller’s heart. The site of this single vineyard is where Andrew’s great-great-great grandfather first settled when he moved to the Hills in 1843, having arrived in Australia two years earlier. The vineyard has an east-west orientation and the grapes are the Bernard clone. The quality of the 2018 vintage is on display here. The aim with this wine was to focus on the vineyard, not what might be possible in the winery (a philosophy which a few other winemakers could do well to adopt). Fermentation was in a mix of new and older French oak hogsheads.
A lovely, yellow colour with swathes of green interspersed. Nuts, cashews, stone fruit, a touch of mandarin. Good concentration and focus with a mineral backing. Very well constructed, and shows balance, intensity, length and complexity – it is all here. Throw in a gorgeous texture and this is a cracker with a future.
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.
