Ten Minutes by Tractor McCutcheon Chardonnay 2011 (Mornington Peninsula, Vic)
13%, Screwcap, $65

A top Chardonnay from the first whiff.

It’s perhaps a little more forward than the other ’11 Ten Minutes by Tractor single vineyard wines, but gee it smells special.

Quite yellow in colour, the nose has some sulphide funk, creamy oatmeal wild lees richness and just a little nectarine. Surprisingly warm and full flavoured for the label, it is medium to full bodied, yet driven by biting grapefruit acid.

The complexity alone here is commendable – that interplay between yeast funk and some quite serious richness, which is quite unsurprising for what was a very cold vintage. It’s perhaps a little full and even slightly marmaladey, but seriously long and layered.

Superior wine.

Source: Sample
Tasted: July 2014
Drink: 2014-2017
Score: 18.5/20, 94/100
Would I buy it? Yes. More for drinking now than a cellaring option though.