Vasse Felix Chardonnay 2021

2021 wasn’t the easiest of vintages. A cooler season tinged with summer storms and atypical humidity required careful vineyard management and a dose of luck. What the vintage lacks in yield, however, it makes up for in quality. Fans of Vasse Felix’s house style will recognise a familiar reductive note that blows off a little with time, opening up to Mayer lemon, white florals, green bean, freshly cut hay and a slight cheesecloth note. The vintage delivers lower alcohol levels at 12.5% and offers excellent fruit concentration thanks to a longer hang time. Following through is a nougatine quality, generous toasted oak (nine months to be precise) and a light sprinkle of dried herbs. There’s a freshness to this wine; the palate gives up juicy acidity and roundness with textural interest from six months in tank on lees. A saline lemon peel character completes this well-crafted, great-value Margaret River Chardonnay. A perennial crowd pleaser that screams to be cracked open with a mid-week serve of fish and chips at the white sandy West Aussie beach of your choice.