Orlando Lyndale Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2021
- 95
- $50
- Drink by: 2023-2030
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Such complexity in a Chardonnay that is still just a poppet. It smells like grapefruit flesh scooped from the rind with a spoon (1980s breakfast vibes) and bright yellow peaches topped with vanilla bean Greek yoghurt. There’s white blossoms and flinty rocks playing in the background. Driven and precise but also mouthfilling in a vibrant, fleshy citrus kind of way. The fruit on the palate is supported by toasted fennel seed and a lemongrass tang. Fine, seamlessly integrated acidity. I’m not the first to celebrate this excellent chardonnay and will admit that I saw it for the first time when it won best Chardonnay at the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards – I think it’s even better now.
Nicole loves wine. So much so that she gave up a successful career in Pharmacy, perfected her spitting technique, and moved from sunny Queensland to the wine-drenched laneways of Melbourne. Stints in hospitality, wineries, retail, sales and marketing filled the next few years while Nicole built her knowledge and searched for the right path. She completed the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Diploma in 2016 and became a certified WSET Educator the following year. She now juggles a number of roles including teaching people about wine, curating wines lists for restaurants and bars, judging in Australian wine shows and, of course, writing. In 2016 she won the Negociants Working With Wine writing award and has since contributed to Gourmet Traveller WINE, Halliday Wine Companion Magazine and Nourish Magazine.
