Zonte’s Footsteps Apple Betty Chardonnay Adelaide Hills 2022
- 93
- $30
- Drink by: 2023-2030
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Adelaide Hills Chardonnay from a cracking vintage and a top producer, what is not to like. One assumes that there is a reason for the name. Best I could ascertain was that eons ago, there was a dessert – some sort of no-crust pie – which was called a brown betty, which seems to have been claimed by both England and America. Betty was the cook who created it. Eventually, it was changed to apple betty to rid it of any inappropriate connections and because apples were the main ingredient. This was rather fortunate as brown is rarely a term used positively with any wine, especially a fresh, young one. The wine is a pale lemon hue (not a hint of brown to be found anywhere). Notes of citrus and spices, a flick of mandarin, ginger and lemongrass, with a touch of oatmeal which emerges on the palate. Excellent focus here, good concentration and a lingering finish. Good energy throughout, love it. Enjoy over the next five to six years.
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.
