Pike & Joyce Methode Traditionelle Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2020

An excellent Aussie sparkler with fruit sourced from high altitude vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, specifically Lenswood. Fermentation is in a mix of stainless steel and old oak barriques. The wine spent four and a half years on lees and has a rather low dosage of just three grams per litre. This is the team’s eighth release of this wine and it is surely as good as any to date. 2,700 bottles made. Deep straw in colour with good effervescence, the nose reveals notes of stone fruits, green apples, brioche and just a hint of that appealing toasty yeast autolysis. Most attractive. The wine exhibits early notes of complexity. There is good intensity here, but this is a refined style with a line of elegance. Well balanced with very good length, this pitches itself against the better Australian sparklings and deservedly so. For enjoying over the next five to eight years.