2020 Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay
Mornington Peninsula, VIC
Top value Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay from the legend that is Barney Flanders.
$29.00
Out of Stock
"Every year it’s one of the best quality/value propositions on the market."
Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
About The Wine
Another fantastic release here of one of Victoria's best value Chardonnays.
Lower yields in 2020 means this wine contains mostly declassified fruit from Barney Flanders' iconic Merricks vineyard. Whole bunches and older large format oak.. this is a savoury, pithy Chardonnay with drive and refreshment.
There is never a lot of this wine around and given the value on offer, it's no wonder. Great buying.
About Garagiste
Garagiste is the brainchild of Barnaby Flanders.
After leaving Allies Wines in 2003 he embarked on a mission to produce small batch premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under his own label in his beloved Mornington Peninsula.
Barney loves the sub-regionality to be exploited in Mornington Peninsula, the slight alterations in aspect and soil profile within this small wine producing region provide him with the scaffolding around which he builds his stunning harem of small batch wines.
They are only ever made in small quantities so time is of the essence if you want to explore the world of Garagiste.
Photo Credit: Pinot Palooza
From The Producer
Of the Stagiaire Chardonnay, Campbell Mattinson has written, “Every year it’s one of the best quality/value propositions on the market”. It’s worth pointing out that, as for the Pinot Noir, Barney Flanders doesn’t make this Chardonnay specifically for the Stagiaire label. All his ferments start as potential single-vineyard wines. Those that end up as single-site wines are barrel selections, and the remaining wines are bottled as Le Stagiaire. This gives us some idea of how this label is able over-deliver year-in, year-out.
The 2020 is mostly drawn from Garagiste’s Merricks vineyard. Balnarring supplied only a little wine and Tuerong—where Garagiste’s yields were draconian—chimed in with just two puncheons. All fruit was hand-sorted in the vineyard and winery, then whole-bunch pressed, with the cloudy juice transferred to 500-litre puncheons to ferment. Across the release, no new oak was used in 2020. The wines were matured on their lees in barrel for six months before blending.
It’s a racy, juicy expression of the Mornington Peninsula, loaded with Granny Smith and lemon pith fruit and driven, mouth-watering freshness. Will make for fabulous and refreshing summer drinking.
Blend : Chardonnay (100%)
ABV : 13.00%
Closure : Screw Cap
Drink Until : 2028
Mornington Peninsula, VIC
Critic Reviews
"Fruit from 3 disparate vineyards from Merricks, Balnarring and Tuerong. It's in the drink-me-now zone and neatly balanced. Full of bright citrus flavours, white stone fruit on the verge of ripeness, a spark of flint, smoky, a smidge of leesy texture, and saline, thirst-quenching acidity to close." - Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
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