Coates Chardonnay 2023 (12 Bottles) Adelaide Hills, South Australia
$481.00 GST Included
AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED
This 2021 The Chardonnay is lighter, finer and pithier than the Reserve Chardonnay, which both come from the same vineyard, although this sees less new oak and a shorter élevage. Delicate, lacy and fine, the phenolics curl back around the fruit through the finish. Elegant. Lively. Score 95 James Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
Coates Adelaide Hills Chardonnay has been an ongoing staple of the range since 2009. This wine has always been a Reserve style with 15+ months oak ageing in a high proportion of new barrels. In 2015 we decided to make two Chardonnay styles; the traditional style which is now The Reserve Chardonnay, and The Chardonnay.
The Chardonnay is a single vineyard Adelaide Hills wine that sees a shorter maturation time in barrel (11 months), and lower percentage of new oak than The Reserve. The fruit is taken in two hand picks to get a zesty note and taut acidity with the later picked grapes adding mid palate weight and depth. With two vintages in Burgundy, Duane’s winemaking is traditional French in outlook with The Chardonnay 2022 showing some leaning towards modernist Burgundy in style.
Our winemaking style is traditional with a gentle bag press of the grapes to yield the softest fruit characters. The Chardonnay was hand picked and gently pressed then the juice rested in tank to cold settle.
The juice was natural yeast fermented with fine solids in new (30%) and second/third use (70%) barriques from the Dargaud & Jaegle, Chassin and Nadalie cooperages then aged on lees. Malo was allowed to proceed, and the wine was matured with minimal battonage. Bottled unfined and unfiltered in March 2024.
The Chardonnay is a tight, structured style and will be best from 2025 and drinking well until 2033.
Description
About Caotes Wines
The winemaking philosophy of Coates Wines is not predicated on fashion or blind adherence to dogma, the processes we use (and avoid) have grown from experience and understanding. My training is as a winemaker (with a Masters Degree from the University of Adelaide), backed by Australian and International experience. Making wines from the large scale commercial end down to small batch boutique provides a pragmatic perspective on the wine world. Coates Wines are made in a way that is hoped will provide sensory delights truest to region and variety. Those who make their wines with a different philosophy to my own make different wines to my own. Experimentation and diversity is welcomed in the vinous landscape.
The Winemaker
Duane Coates MW has a long held passion for Australian and overseas wines. He expanded his winemaking training with vintages in Burgundy with Chateau Demessey, the Rhone Valley with Domaine Francois Villard and the Douro Valley with the Fladgate Partnership (Taylor’s). Exposure to European wines and winemaking has given Duane a broad perspective on techniques and wines styles.
His spare time is spent with his partner and talented Chef, Rebecca Stubbs. Other passions include archery, Alfa Romeo cars, motorcycling and music.
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