Corryton Burge The Patroness Chardonnay 2022

Named after a mother, wife and business partner: the siblings’ Grandmother Ethel Nancy. Fruit sourced from the Porter family, a long-term grower in the Adelaide Hills. Matured in a mix of new and used oak for 6 months with weekly battonage. There’s an inviting creamy nose complete with buttermilk, lemon curd, a little pear drop, polished pith and some white, salt-crusted florals. An ever-so-subtle cheesecloth background from that weekly battonage. The palate is juicy and long, with a taut crushed quartz minerality. Fine hessian tannins, lemon pith, rock salt and a lingering note of crushed lemon leaf and dried hay. Creamy, balanced and layered, yet there’s tension and drive from that tightly strung acidity. A mid-palate weight grounds this wine nicely. A Chardonnay with just enough attitude to please excitement seekers and pacify traditionalists.