The two Wines of the Edition for this issue have much in common, although all their similarities from this perspective are entirely coincidental. Both are Victorian chardonnays, both are made by small wineries perhaps better known for their red wines, and both were influenced in their making by the subject of this edition’s interview, consultant Gary Baldwin. Dalwhinnie Chardonnay 2000 Dalwhinnie is one of the most successful small Victorian vineyards, although its reputation has largely been built on the back of its stand-out wine, its Shiraz. Ephemeral releases of the Eagle Series Shiraz have done its image no harm whatsoever, while its Cabernet Sauvignon has proven capable of significant quality from time to time. From a site significantly warmer than most of Victoria’a better chardonnay vineyards, Dalwhinnie’s approach is about achieving intensity of fruit, them harnessing it and tempering it down with intelligent use of winemaking artefact. The wines are typically given substantial maturation in oak, yet they’re not over-wooded. They cop the full load of malolactic fermentation, lees contact and battonage (stirring), and reach the bottle as complex wines of richness and character. It’s the pure intensity, freshness and brightness of their concentrated flavours, plus their length of fine, almost crystalline mineral acidity that distinguishes the better vintages of Dalwhinnie Chardonnay, and there have been plenty of them. The form of the last decade of the 1990s has been taken to a new level with the 2000 release. Its intense fragrance of tangerine, pineapple and fresh melon, integrated with tight vanilla oak, precedes a supple and restrained, yet fleshy and creamy palate of pure bright citrus flavour, culminating in a lingering finish of fine mineral acids. It’s rated at 18.7 and should continue to improve until at least 2002-2005. Stonier Reserve Chardonnay 2000 Part of Petaluma Ltd, Stonier is one of the Mornington Peninsula’s leading wine producers. It’s perhaps best known for its Reserve Pinot Noir, although its 1999 Reserve Chardonnay won the Chardonnay Trophy at the International Wine Challenge of 2001. Consistently sourced from three vineyards, each more than fourteen years of age, the Reserve Chardonnay has established a fine cellaring record. The 2000 vintage, clearly superior to the 1999, is as polished a white wine yet made at Stonier’s. It’s fragrant and zesty, while its refined palate presents an intense core of typically penetrative and tangy citrus and banana-like fruit, offset by creamy, butterscotch malolactic influences. Substantially but carefully wooded, it’s almost steely in its delivery of fresh, citrusy acids. A longer term wine, drinking best between 2005-2008, and rated at 18.7.
