A serious Chardonnay in terms of complexity and finesse, yet eminently drinkable as a young wine.
Andre Bondar, Owner/winemaker
About The Wine
Since his time working at Nepenthe, Andre Bondar has loved Adelaide Hills Chardonnay. Now, with his own label, he has the chance to make it just the way he likes it.
He found a cool little vineyard in Echunga, at 400m ASL, had the fruit picked by hand, pressed it as whole bunches and sent it to barrel to ferment at its own pace. Nine months later, this gorgeous little wine emerged. I tell you what, for a bloke who owns a vineyard in the heart of 'big reds' country, he knows his way around a Chardonnay as well as anyone.
The 2017 release is pure and unadorned with overt oak or artifice. A truly lovely wine and yet another success for this impressive McLaren Vale outfit.
About Bondar
Bondar is the baby of husband-and-wife team Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly, and winners of the 2017 Australian Wine Companion’s Best New Winery.
They have purchased the famous Rayner vineyard in McLaren Vale, crafting stunning Shiraz and Grenache from here, along with beautifully pure Adelaide Hills Chardonnay. I’ll leave it to them to describe what their extremely exciting venture is all about: “Our vision has always been to make wines that create a little intrigue, that are a little different. We want to make wines that are bright, structured, mid-weight yet concentrated in flavour with a savoury element.”
Super value, tiny production and delicious to drink!
Rayner Vineyard, McLaren Vale
From The Producer
Sourced from a single vineyard in Echiunga in the Adelaide Hills, this wine is all about the vineyard really, Bernard (Dijon) clone which is packed full of flavour, nurtured through to bottle with our only influence to shape that flavour and add complexity with oak and balancing structure and acidity.
Hand-picked and lightly pressed straight to barrel sans sulphur, the juice was allowed to ferment naturally. Matured in french oak barrels (about 30% new) for about nine months, the barrels were allowed to go through malolactic fermentation. A serious Chardonnay in terms of complexity and finesse, yet eminently drinkable as a young wine. 310 dozen bottles made.
Blend : Chardonnay (100%)
ABV : 12.50%
Closure : Screw cap
Drink Until : 2024
Bottle Size : 750ml
Production : 310 dozen
Owners, Bondar Wines
Critic Reviews
Effortless Chardonnay here from the Bondars. Cool, long and sleek - built in a slipstream mode but with some flesh on the bones. Little flinty but not smoky with ample fruit weight, a tiny hint of woodspice. Acidity is clear and well pitched amongst the green melon and nectarine flavours. Well-tailored Chardonnay. Probably their finest Chardonnay so far. Great stuff. - Different Drop Wine Team
"There’s a good currency building behind these fledgling Bondar wines. Keep an eye out. Or two.Struck match, flint, lean citrus and green apple notes, some stone fruit. Nice, stony-minerally, fresh perfume. Palate is racy, crisp, light and sleek with mouthwatering green apple-white pear kind of feel with fine minerally characters to boot. Restrained expression done well here. You could drink a metric tonne of the stuff." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)
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