Moss Wood Chardonnay 2021

If one may begin with the bottom line up top, I think that this is the very best Moss Wood Chardonnay I have seen for a very long time. This sits with the finest the region can offer. Indeed, I’d go further. Moss Wood has an enviable record for its stunning Cabernet. If they maintain this standard with the Chardy, it won’t be long before it is on a par with the Cab. Perhaps the cooler vintage suited the style a little more. The future will reveal if that is so. The fruit was whole-bunch pressed, settled, seeded with a variety of yeasts for fermentation which sees the juice transferred to French oak barrels, half new, at the halfway mark. Maturation then continues for over a year.

Straw/yellow, it is immediately apparent that this is one of the more complex Chardonnays you’ll come across at the moment – wonderful stuff. The nose exhibits cashews, mandarins, white peaches, stonefruit, all through to a fabulous palate, immaculately balanced and with unrelenting intensity. There is oak, sure, but it has melded so well you hardly notice it. Supple, creamy, and a finish that just seems to linger forever with hints of lime marmalade. This is an absolutely brilliant and stunning Margaret River Chardonnay that should live for many years.