O’Leary Walker Lenswood Chardonnay 2021

We are advised that this wine was made by Jack Walker, now a member of the team at O’Leary Walker. Clearly talent does not fall far from the family tree. Jack comes from winemaking royalty with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all famous winemakers, responsible for a large number of Australia’s great wines over the years.

This is the first release from the O’Leary Walker ‘Seasonal Release Range’ and it is a cracking start. From the Adelaide Hills, 25-year-old vines from a vineyard in the Charleston sub-region (previous O’L W Chardies hailed from Oakvale), it does have the advantage of coming from a special vintage for the region, 2021. After pressing, the juice was divided into four portions – oak with natural ferment, oak for ferment with inoculated non-saccharomyces yeasts, oak for sequential ferment with inoculated non-saccharomyces yeasts to start and with inoculated saccharomyces to finish, and stainless steel tank, inoculated with saccharomyces. 

The individual components are then blended for bottling. That may seem like a lot of trouble and the sort of thing that is only of interest to the serious wine geeks among us (guilty), but the results in bottle are worthwhile. There is an immediate impression of complexity, even at this very early stage. Elegance, balance and focus, there is an oak influence which has melded perfectly. Peaches, stonefruit, citrus, orange rind notes, a wet slate backing and a creamy texture, with excellent length. This is an exciting Chardonnay with a good future, five to eight years in good cellars. O’L W are justifiably famous for their Rieslings but with wines like this, things might change.