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 Aus