Robert Oatley The Pennant Margaret River Chardonnay 2019
- 95
- $90
- Drink by: 2024 - 2030
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This is the serious/flagship version of the Finisterre – to be honest, it was really going to have to perform to top that wine. 65% Karridale and 35% Wilyabrup material. The gin gin clone whole bunch pressed into 100% new tight-grained, low-toast French oak, indigenous yeast. Just 11 barrels.
Opens with an intriguing hint of a sea breeze. Some of the similar subtlety as seen in the Finisterre, but more depth and concentration. Peaches, stonefruit, some citrus. Good acidity. The oak is a touch more apparent here. More intensity. Good length. Still the appealing brightness. On the palate, more floral notes emerged. Some nuttiness, cashews.
I’d be drinking the Finisterre now for a couple of years and then moving to this wine for another five.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
