Smeaton Estate Stella Chardonnay 2023
- 95
- $58
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From the Smeaton family estate vineyard in the Forreston district of the northern Adelaide Hills, this is a Chardonnay that steps out a bit with plenty to show off. No shyness in terms of its classic Hills fruit character – just ripe peach, more yellow than white, cashew, baking spices, and a faint impression of stone and flint which sits well in the overall textural feel, part creamy, part chalky. All of this stems from the Smeaton’s 50 year old vines, its flavourful statement impressive in just the inaugural vintage as a family-badged wine. Big ups to seasoned winemaker Con Moshos, who has plenty of Chardonnay runs on the board during his years at Petaluma and now Tapanappa, here steering this wine into the top rungs of the region’s much championed Chardonnay oeuvre.
Tony is best known for his 10 years as News Corp’s National Wine Writer, with weekly columns in major metropolitan mastheads throughout Australia including The Adelaide Advertiser, The Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Melbourne Herald Sun. He continues to write feature articles and columns for all the major Australian wine media publications. Tony has also worked as a restaurant reviewer, section editor, book editor, digital content provider, journalism teacher and was named Wine Communicators of Australia 2018 Legend of the Vine (SA). Find out more about Tony at tonylove.com.au
