Cullen Legacy Series Flower Day Kevin John Chardonnay 2021

Also part of the Legacy series, this Chardonnay was harvested on a Flower Day. If you think that this is all a bit ‘away with the fairies’ stuff, put these two wines, this one and the Fruit Day, next to each other. The difference, which comes down to the day of harvest, is extraordinary (this wine was harvested five days before the Fruit Day Chardonnay). Also, both of these wines are stunning stuff, so whatever the team is doing, it is working. Again, whole bunches into amphorae for two days before pressing into a new puncheon for fermentation and eight months maturation. Bottling was without fining or filtration. Just 660 bottles. Put simply, if there was a better Chardonnay released in Australia this year, I have not seen it. This is a wine to drink on bended knee. Stunning. If this came out of a bottle labelled Grand Cru Burgundy, no one would blink – indeed, most would think it an excellent example. If I had to be specific, I’d probably lean to a great Grand Cru Chablis, from ‘Les Clos’.

This is slightly paler in colour than the Fruit Day. The nose is more restrained, more elegant, yet beautifully fragrant – lace and silk in a glass. Young, but so well balanced, it is more than approachable now. So ethereal, with an intriguing complexity. Notes of florals, citrus, most notably grapefruit, with lemongrass and ginger plus a fine line of acidity. There is a flinty, chalky note underpinning the palate, which takes us to the gunflint realm of great Chablis. The florals keep coming (or is that simply the power of suggestion?). This will give immense pleasure for the next decade or more. The elegance of Nureyev, the power of Arnie. For me, one of the best Chardonnays ever made in this country.