For some reason I was sent two bottles of this Curly Flat Chardonnay 2019 for review rather than one. Normally when this happens, my family and friends score the extras. But the other bottle here is going straight to the pool room/my shitty Vintec knock off.
It’s a delicious Chardonnay that tastes like Chardonnay, even at low alcohol. That’s a rare feat, especially for the Macedon Ranges, where early picked can mean wines that taste like a sparkling base (ie teeth enamel stripping hard work).
This white is evocative. There’s some cookie dough and mealy oak/lees on the nose but the palate doesn’t follow through with the suggested width. No, it’s lean and taut. There are layers too – oak and winemaking playing a part, but the fruit well up to the job.
Complex and fresh? Goldilocks wine this, and utterly involving because of it. I’m a fan, clutching the other bottle merrily.
Best drinking: now to eight years. 18.7/20, 95/100. 12.7%, $46 direct from the winery (website here). Would I buy it? In a heartbeat.
4 Comments
Good to hear – love these guys.
Out of curiosity, what would make it a 96-98 pt wine? (And is it possible to have a $45 100 pt wine?)
Everything Curly is good.
Meanwhile, 96-98pt wines are possible at any price point, but anything above 95 needs to be profound. Doesn’t happen much, at any price.
Hi Andrew, Seems the 2019 impressed more than the 2018 (95 vs 92). Curly Flat has long held a reputation for Chardonnay. Recall Jancis Robinson’s 2009 review of the 2002 Chardonnay “Wonderfully developed buttery Mersault type nose. Absolute dead ringer for mature white burgundy” 18/20. As for the two bottles…..save the second one for ten years.
I very much preferred the 2019. Personal choice, sure, but the balance of acidity vs flavour seems more even in this vintage.