2021 Crittenden Cri de Coeur Chardonnay

Brilliant pale straw to straw colour with a watery hue. A gentle drift of white peach and pear scents followed by hints of dried honey, wet stone and oyster shell sails through the olfactory senses. Beautifully refined and seamless the palate features white peach, citrus and pear fruits over traces of dried honey, subtle hazelnut and wet stone characteristics. Integrated acidity lends tension. Finishes long and elegant with a river stone like feel.
Drink over the next 5-6 years.
Alc. 12.5%

Other Reviews…..
The mistake with this wine – or any chardonnay, for that matter, is to serve it too cold. That just muffles the flavours. Guilty. However, this opened up in no time allowing a full spread of stone fruit, lemon, mandarin, ginger fluff cake and clotted cream. The oak is neatly embedded into the body, adding some depth and spicy nuances, and the superfine acidity drives this to a Formula 1 finish. Drink by 2031.
95 Points
Jane Faulkner – James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion

A fine summer, never too hot, defined by prolonged warmth throughout autumn. Fermented under the aegis of ambient yeast in a mix of new and single-pass French wood. A wonderful chardonnay, mid-weighted, intense of flavor and furled by just enough tension. Stone-fruit allusions, acacia, green plum and orange blossom. Some nougat chew, oatmeal and hazelnut praline at the core. Yet the beam of flavor intensity, like white nectarine staining the cheeks, is almost overwhelming. In the best sense. This simply needs time to come into its own.
Drinkable now, but best from 2025.
94 Points
JamesSuckling.com