2023 Domenica Chardonnay

Highly Rated
Highly sought-after exemplary Chardonnay from ex-Giaconda winemaker, Peter Graham. Top value for premium Chardonnay from this famous region.

Price:
Sale price$55.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Peter Graham has a long history with Beechworth Chardonnay, having been an assistant winemaker at Giaconda for more than a decade as the Giaconda Chardonnay became legend.

Pete now crafts his own Chardonnay from his own vineyard just down the road from Rick Kinzbrunner. It's a wine of quiet power and balance. The influence of oak judged perfectly. About half the wine is allowed to go through malo. This is Beechworth Chardonnay with more style, less flash.

It sells out incredibly quickly each year. In the spectrum of Chardonnay from this famous region, it is one of the best value getting around.

95 points
"Fine-boned, sunny and delicious – immediately quintessential Beechworth – with serious chardonnay credentials, notably fruit concentration and precision winemaking on show. Melon, lemon and white peach aromas give way to a deep-set complexity, crisp and well balanced on the palate. Displays good weight with a creamy warmth across the middle palate before a lightly nutty/nougat finish. Well composed and still a pup."
- Jenni Port (Halliday Wine Companion)

95 points
“A very fine chardonnay, without quite the precision, detail and tension that I recall from other years. Stone fruit, flint, lanolin, porcini and that regional tattoo of glazed quince. Quinine bitterness at the finale. Mid-weighted and nicely nervous in the mouth, while suitably open-knit enough to breach already. Fine.”
- Ned Goodwin MW (James Suckling)

95 points - "Fine-boned, sunny and delicious – immediately quintessential Beechworth – with serious chardonnay credentials, notably fruit concentration and precision winemaking on show. Melon, lemon and white peach aromas give way to a deep-set complexity, crisp and well balanced on the palate. Displays good weight with a creamy warmth across the middle palate before a lightly nutty/nougat finish. Well composed and still a pup." - Jenni Port (Halliday Wine Companion)

95 points - "A very fine chardonnay. Stone fruit, flint, lanolin, porcini and that regional tattoo of glazed quince. Quinine bitterness at the finale. Mid-weighted and nicely nervous in the mouth, while suitably open-knit enough to breach already." - Ned Goodwin MW (James Suckling)

95 points - "A mid-weighted Chardonnay of impressive power and just the right amount of reductive tension. Riffs on salted caramel, mirabelle, pungent mineral undertones and subtle flecks of stone fruits, with a quinine bitterness at the finale. A wine of nervous energy despite the concentration, all packed into a carapace of immaculately handled oak and saline natural acidity. A juxtaposition of extract and freshness, suggestive of the sub-alpine diurnal swings of Beechworth and ex-Giaconda winemaker Peter Graham's thoughtful approach. Kerpow!" - Ned Goodwin MW (Decanter)

This year’s chardonnay was picked across a seven day period in early March, offering a full flavour profile from the vineyard's lean granitic soil. The fruit was immaculate - fully ripe with ideal natural acidity.

The juice fermented in a mixture of 600 litre demi-muids and 228 litre barriques. As usual, the new oak component is around 25%.

This release shows greater intensity than previous years and an approachable palate, due to the combination of a lighter crop and extended ripening.

Importantly, the wine embodies the hallmark precision and purity of Domenica Estate vineyard.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type White
Body Full Bodied
Variety Chardonnay
Country Australia
Region Beechworth
Australian State VIC
Feature High Score
Reviewed By James Suckling
Halliday Wine Companion
Decanter
Critic Score 95
Alcohol 13%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2023
Closure Screw Cap

Domenica

Peter Graham is one of Beechworth's most thoughtful and talented winemakers. From his small plot of land on the Beechworth "Golden Mile", Pete crafts articulate and powerful wines with a gentle hand.

He farms his vineyard organically, though uncertified, with great care. The quality of fruit it yields is first class. In the winery, everything is moved via gravity. Patience is a virtue that Pete definitely possesses. No wine is released until it's 'ready'.

The Nebbiolo is one of the country's benchmarks. The Chardonnay is always in high demand given Pete's history as assistant winemaker at Giaconda. The Shiraz is the very model of modern Australian Shiraz; a wine with both power and refinement.

As Mike Bennie once noted:"If you’re into the new wave of truefine wine producers of Australia you should be onto, should get onto, Domenica. Classics in the making. Rising high."

The gorgeous Domenica vineyard after vintage - Beechworth, VIC Domenica

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