Brown Brothers Patricia Chardonnay 2020
- 96
- $48
- Drink by: 2022-2034
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For me, chardonnay has been where this range has taken its biggest steps forward. And this latest iteration is up there with the best they have released. Not surprisingly, this has been sourced from Brown Brothers Tasmanian vineyards, which are ideally suited to this more refined and precise expression of chardonnay. It was naturally fermented in French oak, with lees stirring after the initial fermentation. It opens with a totally beguiling mix of cereal, stone fruit and a trace of light citrus. The palate though is so powerful and intense, showing the influence of 100% malolactic fermentation to add texture while balancing the acid. It’s built on concentrated fruit delivering a mighty payload that is harnessed with oak in such perfect balance. Has a crunchy, citrussy tang with a minerally edge supported with a defining acidity to promote a very long finish. As good as any yet under this label.
Ray Jordan has been writing about wine for more than 40 years. His first articles were published in the early issues of national wine magazine Winestate in the late 1970s when he worked in Sydney as a newspaper correspondent. From 1989 Ray wrote more than 3000 columns as a regular newspaper wine columnist. He currently writes a regular column for the special business publication Business News and is one of the main contributors to national wine platform Wine Pilot. In 2017 Ray co-authored The Way it Was – A History of The Early Days of the Margaret River Wine Industry and previously wrote Wine in the Blood: Australia’s Family Wine Estates, published in Mandarin and English. In 2011 Ray was awarded WA Wine Press Club Jack Mann Memorial Medal for his contribution to the WA wine industry. His love of wine is as strong as his love of the blues and tasting the thousands of wines that cross his bench each year allows him to indulge in both.
