A glass of heady Australian chardonnay is no longer to be sniffed at
On the up down under: ‘Australian chardonnay producers have become both more sensitive and more stubborn.’ Photograph: Marianne Lannen/Alamy Stock Photo
On the up down under: ‘Australian chardonnay producers have become both more sensitive and more stubborn.’ Photograph: Marianne Lannen/Alamy Stock Photo
Sun 4 Jul 2021 01.00 EDT
Flametree Chardonnay, Margaret River, Australia 2020 (from £17.50, nywines.co.uk; tauruswines.co.uk; cambridgewine.com) Australian chardonnay has had a few ups and downs over the years. In the 1980s, it was the wine that helped the country on the vinous journey from laughing stock to one of the world’s biggest wine exporters. Then, in the 1990s, there was a backlash against the thick, syrupy, oaky, buttery, tropically fruited style the Australians had pioneered, and the formation of the sneery ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) club. In the 2000s a loss of confidence among some Australian producers led to wines that had the opposite flaws: rather than being too rich, many of them were too skinny, lacking in ripeness, flavour and presence. More recently, however, I’d say Australian chardonnay producers have become both more sensitive and more stubborn: sensitive in producing wine styles that reflect the varied vineyards in which the grapes are grown; stubborn in that they’re no longer so bothered about listening to the whims of the market and are instead concentrating on making superbly expressive wines such as Flametree’s.