Thompson Estate The Specialist Chardonnay 2024
- 95
- $100
- Drink by: 2025-2035
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Those who have not encountered this wine previously need to rectify that as soon as possible, especially if they are fans of topnotch Chardonnay. This wine is actually very similar to their Estate Chardy from the same vintage, but it offers an extra degree of finesse. A percentage of new French oak, around one-third, is used in maturation and it, too, takes the wine to a higher level. The colour here is a lovely lemon/gold. The nose offers alluring perfumes of peaches, nectarines, cashews, florals, ginger, lemon curd, florals and melon. We see a move to oatmeal on the palate and the early signs of the complexity that will surely build to a crescendo over the next decade. As mentioned, the oak is even more impressive here and it does seem to have progressed through integration a little quicker. There is good focus and length here, with a fine line of fresh acidity. Surely, a ten-year proposition.
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.
