2021 Mount Mary Chardonnay

Mount Mary strives to create a Chardonnay that strikes a harmonious balance between richness and elegance, prioritizing extended length. While drawing inspiration from Burgundian techniques, the winery incorporates local considerations to craft a distinctive wine. Notably, their Chardonnay diverges from tradition by avoiding malolactic fermentation, as the local climate naturally bestows the fruit with optimal acidity during harvest. The maturation process involves 30% new French oak barriques and older barrels, with the entire production undergoing barrel fermentation. A deliberate hard pressing imparts texture, and lees stirring in barrels for 11 months enhances complexity and body.

Other Reviews....
Hand picked, 20% whole-bunch pressed, the balance crushed and destemmed. Matured in French puncheons and barriques (30% new) for 11 months. A light, bright gold with green tinges. Seductive with its bouquet of melon, fresh fig, yellow peach, chamomile and a little lemongrass. A savoury nuance, too. On the palate, which is powerful, densely packed and structured, you'll find some grapefruit pith and hazelnut. Finishes extremely long, saline and gently grippy. Drink 2022 - 2030.
96 Points
Philip Rich - Halliday's Australian Wine Companion

The only cuvee in the range to be bottled under stelvin. While this closure may promote a waft of reductive tension, reduction is never intentionally sought and depends on the nature of the fruit and yeasts of any given year. A pungent, mid-weighted expression with real torque: tension, expansion and release of yellow and green plum, nectarine and a indescribable chalkiness, the oak tucked in effortlessly and barely detectible. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. Screw cap.
95 Points
Ned Goodwin MW - JamesSuckling.com

The 2021 Chardonnay leads with crushed nuts, curry leaves, apple blossom, wet slate/river stones, spring flowers and brine on the nose. It is incredibly fragrant here today. In the mouth, the wine is detailed and rich; it undulates across the palate with notes of salted white stone fruit, nashi pear, a hint of loquat, crushed cashew and a hint of mustard seed. It's all here. The wine is so pretty and restrained, but it is complete and powerful at the same time. There is sandalwood and saffron, and the oak is toasty and spiced but is so precisely embossed into the fruit that it supports rather than frames. Malolactic fermentation is eschewed here, and it is absolutely not required. This is a wine of detail and precision, and this is never more true than in this lovely, balanced season. What a lovely wine. It has palate-staining fruit. The wine gets better as it sits in the glass. 13.2% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink 2023 - 2043.
97 Points
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

A bit of a richer style for Mount Mary Chardonnay in 2021.
Pear, quince, some struck match and cedar spice. It has a fair amount of power, with a juicy acid line, a firm flinty texture, apple and pear, cashew and sizzled butter with sage, and a tight finish offering preserved lemon, apricot and a zesty tang. Long. Kind of intense, but very good. Drink 2024 - 2031+
95 Points
Gary Walsh - The Wine Front