Fetherston Iris Yarra Chardonnay 2023
- 92
- $35
- Drink by: 2026-2029
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Chardonnay from the Yarra Valley, picked from four different vineyards. The grapes were whole bunch pressed with native fermentation in a mix of French oak barriques and puncheons, a small percentage new. The wine spends the best part of a year in oak for maturation before bottling. The colour here is yellow/gold. The nose is dominated by notes of honeysuckle and nougat, with white peaches, melon and lemon sponge cake. There is some caramel oak evident. With a supple texture, this is a wine of medium length, though more forward than some. Gentle oak integration is playing a reasonably dominant role at the moment. Drink now and over the next three years.
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.
