2023 Chardonnay Margaret River
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Tasting notes
The 2023 DHJ1 Single Plot Chardonnay is 100% Gingin clone, matured in seasoned oak for nine months. The fruit is grown in Walcliffe (around the Leeuwin Estate, Xanadu, Voyager, Stella Bella area), and it brings with it an intensity of acid, coupled with an even greater intensity of fruit flavor. If the area had a calling card, it would be one of piercing crystalline intensity. In the mouth, the wine is exactly as the growing area would dictate, with a mineral, crushed rock/shell/graphite cast that lingers long after the wine has gone. The wine lacks some of the nutty, savory complexity inherent in the Heytesbury and even, to a certain extent, the Estate Chardonnay, yet the purity and singular focus of this wine is its calling card. It hails from a magnificent season and will likely endure long into the future. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
Critic scores
Average Score
Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate
Angus Hughson, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The enthralling young 2023 Chardonnay Single Plot DHJ1 impresses with its delicacy and poise, delivering fine aromas of chamomile and almond meal against a backdrop of just-ripe white peach and well-integrated vanillin oak. Streamlined flavors and mouthwatering acidity come together and glide to a finish of epic length. Stunning.
About the producer
Vasse Felix was the first winery in Margaret River, founded in 1967. Today, it is one of Western Australia’s – and the New World’s – most respected names, crafting outstanding, cool-climate Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon from this remote region, south of Perth.