Howard Park Margaret River Miamup Chardonnay 2022

Honeysuckle, yellow peach, baked apple, almond bread, the aromas are warm and inviting. Warm is a common descriptor used in my tasting notes for this wine. The basis is in part ripe fruit with a lean towards peach and nectarine, but it also rests in the use of French oak. There’s a creamy, lanolin texture here which brings a pleasant roundness and softness to the wine and with it, depth of flavour. You might argue that it is at the cost of structure but, overall, this wine is about the now. I would enjoy it earlier rather than later for its celebration of stone fruits, gentle florals and smart, background barrel work.