Champagne Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Brut Rosé
Flametree SRS Wallcliffe Chardonnay
Champagne France 2007
Margaret River, Western Australia Australia 2020
The second wine in this year’s Top 100 from Taittinger is the latest rosé vintage of the great Champagne house’s prestige cuvée. It’s a blend of 30% Chardonnay Grands Crus from the Côte des Blancs and 70% Pinot Noir Grand Crus sourced from the Montagne de Reims, with the final blend “enhanced” with 15% Bouzy Pinot Noir red wine. It’s aged for a minimum of 10 years in the company’s SaintNicaise chalk cellars. “Creamy and rounded, with beautifully judged acidity dominated by succulent red fruits and a wonderful peachy, yeasty finish that is very expansive,” the judges said. “The length, fruit definition and elegance are very impressive.”
The second wine in this year’s Wine Merchant Top 100 from Margaret River star Flametree is a superb single-site Chardonnay. The site in question is the eponymous Wallcliffe, with the fruit fermented using wild yeasts – and then aged for 10 months – in French oak puncheons. “There is a creamy vanilla nose, and the palate is linear, crisp, toasty yet restrained, with a long long elegant finish. Excellent,” the judges said. “The wine just jumps out the glass at you – wonderful! There’s a slight sour/bruised nature to the apple but it’s nice for that – it keeps the palate tangy and fresh. It’s not too weighty, it’s very well-made, and very drinkable. Top stuff.”
Hatch Mansfield
Vindependents
RRP £235.55
ABV 12%
Flametree Chardonnay Margaret River, Western Australia Australia 2020 Margaret River’s Flametree Wines have lit up the Wine Merchant Top 100 competition a number of times over the years, and this year is no exception for the leading Western Australian producer. First up is a Chardonnay that shows just how good the wines made from this variety can be in this maritime-influenced corner of Australia. “Melon and apple and tangy nectarine give a lifted nose. Lemon curd and creamy stone fruit on the palate which is bright and steely, with orange rind and cinders on the finish. Harmonious, lengthy, and energetic,” said the judges. “Very refreshing and perfectly balanced, it’s great for the price, which earns it an extra point.” Vindependents RRP £18.50
RRP £30
ABV 13%
Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay Yarra Valley, Victoria Australia 2020 Even in a region that has forged a reputation for producing some of Australia’s very best Chardonnays, Giant Steps stands out as a leading Yarra Valley performer. This blend of fruit from across the estate’s collection of prime Yarra sites shows why. It’s fermented with indigenous yeast in 500-litre French oak puncheons (10% are new), and aged for eight months in 10% new and 90% used French oak. “Green pineapple and lime,” the judges said. “Lovely lees and malo character, tempering acidity, and refreshing to try a wine at this quality level that isn’t hanging its hat on ‘oak use’! Very good quality; beautifully made.” Liberty Wines
ABV 13%
RRP £24.99
ABV 13.5% THE WINE MERCHANT TOP 100
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