Robert Oatley The Pennant Chardonnay 2019
- 97
- $90
- Drink by: 2024 - 2036
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Probably the best chardonnay yet under this label and a strong pointer to the quality of the ’19 vintage in Margaret River, especially for the whites. It’s been sourced from the cooler Karridale subregion south of Margaret River town and the slightly riper yielding Wilyabrup region. The power and intensity of the fruit has allowed a total new oak regime to be adopted after whole bunch pressing. It has a slightly savoury influence and the lower toasting allows the fruit to edge through. In the end a strict barrel cull was adopted to get to the final blend. A powerhouse chardonnay with a fine minerally edge to the rich nougat and lemon curd characters.
Ray Jordan has been writing about wine for more than 40 years. His first articles were published in the early issues of national wine magazine Winestate in the late 1970s when he worked in Sydney as a newspaper correspondent. From 1989 Ray wrote more than 3000 columns as a regular newspaper wine columnist. He currently writes a regular column for the special business publication Business News and is one of the main contributors to national wine platform Wine Pilot. In 2017 Ray co-authored The Way it Was – A History of The Early Days of the Margaret River Wine Industry and previously wrote Wine in the Blood: Australia’s Family Wine Estates, published in Mandarin and English. In 2011 Ray was awarded WA Wine Press Club Jack Mann Memorial Medal for his contribution to the WA wine industry. His love of wine is as strong as his love of the blues and tasting the thousands of wines that cross his bench each year allows him to indulge in both.
