2022 Vignerons Schmolzer & Brown Thorley Chardonnay

Highly Rated
Single vineyard Chardonnay from Tessa & Jeremy's Thorley Vineyard high above Beechworth. An outstanding and very limited second release.

Price:
Sale price$60.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Beechworth and Chardonnay are synonymous now, thanks to the great vineyards of the region (Giaconda, Sorrenberg, Domenica et al) and here's a new name to enter that class.

Thorley is a pint-sized property planted by husband and wife, Jeremy Schmolzer and Tessa Brown. It's a much higher altitude site than those names previously mention and so produces a finer, more detailed expression of Chardonnay, that's not without the classic Beechworth power.

It's long and fine, beautifully balanced and if the track record of their Brunnen Chardonnay (from the vineyard across the road) is anything to go by, it should cellar beautifully too.

96 points
"Green apple and lemon zest, shortbread just starting to brown, some soft tarragon and chervil. Breathtakingly fine and pure acidity humming through the wine. These guys are genuine stars."
- Nick Ryan (The Weekend Australian)

96 points
"What a treat this wine is... These guys are on fire with Chardonnay. Complex, architectural, intense and ageworthy. A big yes from me."
- Tom Kline (Wine Pilot)

95 points
"Mouth-watering and intense. Very specific, and very bloody good."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
95 points
"Crikey this is fantastic. Flinty, minerally, succulent, quite light weight but so impressive... Outstanding length. Brilliant, crystalline wine. 95, maybe 96 points."
- Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)
95 points
"But it is the depth of fruit concentration and length that really impresses with beautifully integrated acidity."
- Jeni Port (Halliday Wine Companion)

96 points - "Jeremy Schmolzer and Tessa Brown live life on a viticultural edge, working an elevated vineyard in Beechworth that sprouts challenges like others grow weeds. But the rewards can be great, and in this wine they’re bountiful. Green apple and lemon zest, shortbread just starting to brown, some soft tarragon and chervil. Breathtakingly fine and pure acidity humming through the wine. These guys are genuine stars." - Nick Ryan (The Weekend Australian)

96 points - "What a treat this wine is. First up, the making: “30% new oak. Pressed as crushed clusters. Partial solids wild ferment, then full mlf in a mix of puncheon and barrique. 30% new oak. Ten months in oak with monthly stirring, then five months in tank for fine lees tightening before bottling”. A good punch of resin, cedar and slightly rubbery reduction at the fore, before a delicious unfurling of flint, clotted cream, apple crumble, a saline note with air, and some nectarine flesh filling it out. Good balance to the palate, which is textural and fulsome. Green apple, pastry dough, toasty cedar, and nectarine sit within a pillowy texture cut by assertive, tight chalky phenolics and waves of cleansing acidity to a very long finish. There’s a journey to this wine as it unfurls and shape shifts from first smell to final taste. These guys are on fire with Chardonnay. Complex, architectural, intense and ageworthy. A big yes from me." - Tom Kline (Wine Pilot)

95 points - "Fresh apricot, green mango, grapefruit and lime, spice, a bit more struck match here, and it’s quite exotic in a way, maybe even some lemongrass, and salt block. It’s tight, a bit savoury and wild with a gently smoky and flinty edge, quite some tang, a slight green olive in brine thing, yet there’s quite the burst of acidity and flavour running through its long and zesty finish. Mouth-watering and intense. Very specific, and very bloody good." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

95 points - "Crikey this is fantastic. Flinty, minerally, succulent, quite light weight but so impressive in its carriage of flavour. Citrus, alpine herbs, dirty martini, tonic water, ginger, green apple. So energetic and fresh. Outstanding length. Brilliant, crystalline wine. 95, maybe 96 points." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

95 points - "The '22 sees a price rise and, frankly, it's easy to see why. Thorley breaks away from its usual youthful shyness and arrives fully expressive, complex and totally irresistible. Sits firmly, as usual, in the white peach and nectarine spectrum with added grapefruit pith, lemon and some gentle, biscuity oak. But it is the depth of fruit concentration and length that really impresses with beautifully integrated acidity." - Jeni Port (Halliday Wine Companion)

Bright pale straw. Aromas of cashew cream, almond blossom and white peach, along with a smudge of flint and warm biscotti.

The palate has some worked creaminess yet is restrained in weight, with a certain slatey mineral anchor and Meyer lemon acid carriage. With time in glass, some hints of herb garden show through.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type White
Body Full Bodied
Variety Chardonnay
Country Australia
Region Beechworth
Australian State VIC
Feature High Score
Women in Wine
Reviewed By Halliday Wine Companion
Wine Pilot
The Wine Front
The Weekend Australian
Critic Score 96
95
Size 750ml
Vintage 2022
Closure Cork

Vignerons Schmölzer & Brown

Tessa and Jeremy are playing a long-game with their Vignerons Schmolzer & Brown label.

They have invested in a block of land high in the hills behind Beechworth and have planted 10,000 vines on it over the last couple of years with the plan to farm it organically. Tessa has a wealth of experience from time at Sorrenberg and Kooyong, Jeremy is an architect by trade with an eye for detail.

It comes as no surprise that the buzz around this husband and wife team is palpable and the praise is high. Max Allen called them, “one of a remarkable number of impressive new wine labels to have cropped up in Beechworth over the last five years.”

They are going to be at the forefront of Beechworth wine for many years to come.

Tessa and Jeremy in Thorley vineyard - Beechworth, VIC Vignerons Schmölzer & Brown

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