Giaconda Chardonnay Estate Vineyard 2022

Giaconda is one of Australia's most mythologised wine addresses — a small estate on a reef of granitic soils south of Eldorado in the sub-alpine Beechworth region, established by Rick Kinzbrunner in 1982, and the source of a Chardonnay that has spent four decades quietly making the case that Australia can produce white wine to match anything in the world. Kinzbrunner has said that the outcome of his Chardonnay is due to 60% terroir and 40% to himself — and that as a winemaker he tries always to do the things that might ultimately count towards 0.1% of wine quality, because they do add up. The estate was recently distributed through La Place de Bordeaux — an acknowledgement from the world's most prestigious fine wine distribution network that this wine has earned its place in genuinely rarefied company. Edouard Moueix described it as one of Australia's most visionary and renowned white wines, a wine that interconnects nature and nurture to make something lasting and beautiful.

 An intensely focused bouquet of jasmine flower, white nectarines and grapefruit, galangal and a waft of peaty, toasty oak — as it opens, flint and struck match add another layer to the aromatic complexity. Multi-layered white fruits power the palate, while spice notes complement the tingling impact of minerality on the finish — rapier sharp in its attack and precision, piercing, long, clean and steely, the depth of palate and textural roundness considerable, the finish tensile, savoury and immensely satisfying. For the Burgundy-focused, it is evocative of Coche-Dury at its best — though that comparison, flattering as it is, ultimately undersells something that has developed its own irreducible identity over four decades. This is a wine to acquire without hesitation and open with patience.