2023 Koerner Lenswood Chardonnay
2023 Koerner Lenswood Chardonnay

2023 Koerner Lenswood Chardonnay

96 pts
Koerner |Adelaide Hills |Chardonnay
Damon Koerner's Lenswood Chardonnay is full, flavoursome and beautifully crystalline.
Price:
$50.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

In years to come, Chardonnay may be the grape most associated with Koerner Wines. But while Damon waits for his Home Block Chardonay to fully mature, he's sourcing some excellent fruit from near-by growers in the Adealide Hills.

This wine balances elegance with punch, thanks to Damon’s light-handed approach to a grape that sometimes gets overdone. Fermented in French puncheons and aged on lees for a year, it’s got all the complexity and flinty minerality you could hope for, woven with notes of citrus blossom, green apple, and that creamy texture only time on lees can deliver.

It has power in the fruit department but as with all of Damon's white wines, a crystal clear acidity and freshness is this wine's calling card.

Unfiltered, unfined, and unmissable, this is a bright, precise Chardonnay that showcases Damon’s talent for taking a classic and making it feel new again.

96 points
"The premier release of this wine. The nose is mineral-driven, with seductive aromas of Meyer lemon peel, orange blossoms, chalk and flint. The palate is textural with a laser-like acidity and a creamy mid-palate, giving notes of green apple skin and lime curd. Wonderfully balanced with a high-tension core. Truly exceptionally."
- JamesSuckling.com

95 points
"Flinty and raw with white stone fruit, lemon pudding and cashew. Brutalist architecture with lingering lemon sherbet on the finish."
- Katrina Butler (Halliday Wine Companion)

96 points - "The premier release of this wine. The nose is mineral-driven, with seductive aromas of Meyer lemon peel, orange blossoms, chalk and flint. The palate is textural with a laser-like acidity and a creamy mid-palate, giving notes of green apple skin and lime curd. Wonderfully balanced with a high-tension core. Truly exceptionally. Drink or hold." - James Suckling

95 points - "A portion of the fruit from this wine is the first pick off the KOERNER Lenswood vineyard planted in '19. Exciting times ahead. There's a certain flintiness to this that will have the chardonnay gunflint brigade chasing it down. White stone fruit and orchard florals, lemon pudding and creamed honey. Roundness in view but not an overt oak presence – just enough to temper the acidity and garner promising texture. It's pretty, but it also feels brutalist in its architecture, beauty in the rawness of it all, tuned in but not dressed up too much. Some cashew extends through the ends with a lingering lemon sherbet finish. A wine I look forward to seeing again." - Katrina Butler (Halliday Wine Companion)

93 points - "It’s a tasty number. Rich in chardonnay’s best assets of stone fruit, dry melony notes, pear, gingery spice, cinnamon spice, a gentle kiss of well-judged toasty oak. Medium bodied, or just shy of it, tendrils of briny acidity through the core. It flows well, it has good energy, meat to the bones of texture, and feels vibrant as it trails off into the distance of each sip. Lots of charm." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

Chardonnay with it all- flinty, a bit of oak and powerful fruit

Vineyard: Lenswood

Planted: 1998 & 2019

Soil type: A mix of Sandy iron stone / sandstone, Sandy loam on clay

Picking date: April 5 & 13, 2023

Picking method: Hand harvested and sorted in vineyard

Time on skins: No

Processing: Crush and destemmed

Pressing: Only take free run juice

Cooling / settling: Settled off dirt and heavy solids for 24 hours

Ferment vessel: French puncheons for 3 weeks

Aging vessel: French puncheons for 12 months on lees, then stainless steel for 6 weeks on fine lees

Filtration: No

Fining: No

Bottled: July 2024

Alc: 12.8

pH: 3.2

TA: 6.8

SO2: 30F / 60T

Production: 330 dozen

Price Bracket $41 to $50
Type White
Body Full Bodied
Variety Chardonnay
Country Australia
Region Adelaide Hills
Australian State SA
Feature High Score
Reviewed By The Wine Front
James Suckling
Halliday Wine Companion
Critic Score 93
96
95
Size 750ml
Vintage 2023
Closure Cork

Koerner

Growing up in Clare Valley, Damon Koerner developed a deep connection with the region's rich wine history. In 2014, he and his brother Jono launched Koerner Wines to bring fresh energy to their home turf, creating vibrant, modern wines that feel both distinctly Clare and cutting-edge.

Koerner Wines is all about blending tradition with innovation. Damon’s organically-minded approach and contemporary techniques – like fermenting and ageing in clay amphora – result in wines that are bright, food-friendly, and ideally suited to Australia’s climate.

Using his family’s Gullyview vineyard alongside nearby plots, Damon works with Clare Valley classics like Riesling and Cabernet, while also embracing more unique varieties like Carignan, Sciacarello, and top-notch Vermentino. His wines showcase Clare Valley’s diversity, revealing unexpected sides of this iconic region. With a recent expansion into the Adelaide Hills, the range continues to grow and mature.

As one of Australia’s most celebrated young winemakers, Damon Koerner is redefining what Clare Valley & Adelaide Hills wines can be. If you haven’t tried Koerner Wines yet, it’s high time to explore these excellent South Australian vinos.

Damon Koerner in his Adelaide Hills winery Koerner

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