Australia

Giaconda

Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay Beechworth

Victoria

Beechworth

After a tough 2020 vintage with wildfires that meant they produced no Giaconda, this was a balanced and pristine vintage in comparison, and we are rewarded with this stunning wine. Take your time, allowing for the gunsmoke reduction to clear, followed by a slow release of flint, greengage, white peach, citrus zest and sage flavours, all juicy and mouthwatering, unwavering in its grip and lift, with salted cracker and oyster shell coming in underneath. Shows a complexity that keeps you rooted to the spot. All French oak for ageing, at around 30% new. Located in an old historic goldmining town established in the late 1800s, with decomposed granite soils on the foothills of the Victorian Alps, around 440m altitude, 1m topsoil over solid granite, producting one of the great white wines of the world. Certified organic, wild yeast fermentation.

Inside Bordeaux

The 2021 Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay needs a lot of shaking to conjure wafts of ripe, juicy Bosc pears, Golden Delicious apples, and struck flint, followed by fragrant hints of lime leaves, orange blossoms, Marcona almonds, coriander seed, and sea spray. The medium-bodied palate delivers unbelievable intensity for its delicate weight, featuring a satiny texture and jaw-dropping tension, finishing with a long-lingering firework display of citrus essence and chalky mineral notes. Since it’s a touch shy and restrained right now, it would be a shame to drink it before it’s had 3-5 years in cellar, after which prepare for it to go atomic. But since it’s so, so tantalizing, if you must, be sure to decant it a good hour or two before serving. This is as good as Chardonnay gets and then some.

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Restrained flesh, more intense than the 2022 at least at this point, with salt-scape salinity, peach pit, green apple, citrus and lemongrass, vivid grip, and a touch of mouthwatering bitterness on the finish, showing grated ginger and grilled almond. This will be bottled at the end of October, so one month after this tasting. Once again showing itself to be one of Australia's great Chardonnays, take this as a holding score until tasting it in bottle, but it's one to get behind. Unfiltered and unfined. Rick Kinsbrunner owner and winemaker.

The 2022 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay reveals wonderfully expressive scents of white peaches, fresh pears, and juicy grapefruit, leading to hints of struck match, fresh ginger, and lime blossoms with a touch of marzipan. The medium-bodied palate is satiny-sleek and refreshing, delivering mouth-coating citrus and orchard fruit layers with a long mineral-laced finish.

Reductive flint and gunsmoke continues to cling on to the opening at six years old, while the palate is also gaining oyster shell salinity as it ages. Highlights include citrus, white peach, lemongrass and mango, and the whole thing seems to gain in freshness and structure with a good 15 minutes in the glass, suggesting it will benefit from a short carafe before drinking, and that it is far from at is peak. Touch of smoked butterscotch on the finish. Unfiltered and unfined, 30% new oak.

Amber gold in colour, russet hints, with butterscotch and brioche on the opening notes, opulent in texture reflecting a warm vintage. It slowly and steadily evolves in the glass, gaining green apple, orange peel and saffron notes, with crisper citrus that gives the wine a savoury finish, underlined by the texture drawing in, showing the grip and the slate edge of the younger vintages. A wine that is full of personality and structure, holding your interest, in its drinking window, fully mature and showing the high quality of this site. Unfiltered and unfined, 30% new oak.

2023	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2022	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2021	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2018	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2012	No priceNot available	Outstanding

Category	White wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Giaconda
Vintages	2021
Country	Australia, Victoria, Beechworth
Bottle	75 cl

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