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Chardonnay from Australia gets a lot of stick. The so-called ABC drinkers – Anything But Chardonnay – think they dislike the ripe fat and sometimes oaky flavours, but they ought to think again or, to coin a phrase, drink again. Can you remember when you first tasted the appealing, fruity and sweet taste of Australian Chardonnay, back in the 80s? Then, over the next 10 years the market became swamped with dozens of dark yellow wines that were oaked within an inch of their lives so that you almost needed a knife and fork to drink them.
If you think you don’t like Australian Chardonnay, you’ll be pleased to hear that the eleven wines we tasted weren’t all as fat, oaky and oily as we were expecting. Our favourite wine was Little Yering 2004, which is £6.99 from the Co-op. They’d clearly misunderstood my price limit, but we were delighted that the cheapest wine we tasted was the best. The smell was clean and green, fresh and pleasant. In the mouth it was similar, with a hint of oak, but nothing clumsy. It was thirst-quenching and we thought it would be great at lunchtime. Hardy’s Winemaker’s Parcel 2005, which is £7.99 from Morrisons had an oaky smell, which we found attractive and it was of the buttery, richer, heavier style. It was what we’d been expecting. De Bortoli’s Yarra Valley 2004, which is £12.99 from Tesco smelt of buttered toast and definitely had had some oak ageing, but it was nicely judged and not heavy.
Fourth, out of eleven, was Marks & Spencer’s Barossa 2005, which is £7.99. It smelt of pineapple chunks and was tangy and fresh in the mouth. The flavour was intense, but there was no obvious sign of oak.
The following wines were below par, particularly considering the prices. Vasse Felix, Adams Road 2004 is from Western Australia and is £9.99 from the Co-op. It smelt like nice old ladies. Something between talc and rose-scented soap. There was a touch of fizz in the mouth, which put us off. This isn’t a fault, as such, and it’s common practice to inject a little CO2 before bottling, just to get freshness, but we shouldn’t be able to feel it as fizz, so this was just heavy-handedness. It had sweet fruit and some oak. Arrowfield Estate, The Author’s Unwooded 2005, which is £7.49 at Oddbins smelt of pineapple and was quite phenolic in the mouth. This is a green, stalky feeling that you often get from oak, but also from wines that have had a long time soaking on their skins.
Wolf Blass Yellow Label, which around £7.99 and widely available, wasn’t too bad, but it smelt of pineapple sherbet and tasted fat and short, compared with the others. Tesco’s Denman Vineyard smelt of sweeties and stale water and had a strange taste which reminded us of elastoplast and Ralgex. Shelmerdine from Oddbins lost points because it really was very oaky indeed. Kangarilla Road from Majestic made us gag and shudder at the end, which isn’t ideal. Our least favourite was Sainsbury’s TTD, which was faulty.