2018 Redbrook Estate Chardonnay

Australia’s reputation for producing top quality Chardonnay is unquestioned these days, as is Margaret River’s enviable status as the country’s very best producer of this classic variety.

It’s impossible to find a bad one in these parts of the South West, the trick to perfection however lies in meticulous vineyard management and detailed winemaking, as is the case here. In an ideal vintage like 2018, it’s enough to make winemakers giddy.

The fruit for the 2018 Evans & Tate Redbrook Estate Chardonnay was hand-picked from select sites, when flavours peaked in each block on the family-run estate.

The end result is an ultra-premium wine that is pure Margaret River at its best: precise, delicate and detailed, with a refined, focused fruit spectrum, impeccable balance and blissful acidity rare at this price.

Fine-grained French oak contribution ensures this top-flight Chardonnay is expressive and pure in youth and evolves in complexity and flavour over the next 5–7 years. 

colour

Light gold, with a fresh, green rim.

aroma

A layered, complex aroma with stonefruit, pear and citrus notes with seductive fresh toast, dried herbs and malty aromas from wild fermentation on solids in new French oak barrels. 

palate

The palate shows the remarkable fruit sweetness, intensity and persistence that is a hallmark of the best Margaret River Chardonnays. This fruit intensity is matched with lovely texture and savoury elements from the time spent maturing in new French oak puncheons, balanced with fresh, natural acidity.

cellaring

Will continue to develop for at least five years from vintage. 

vintage

A prolonged cool and wet growing season meant the vines were lush and healthy heading into ripening. This resulted in later harvest dates, accentuated by the cool and wet ripening months; conditions not experienced in Western Australia for more than ten years. These conditions, coupled with the absence of heat events, produced highly aromatic whites with good natural acidity. A very dry April allowed the last of the white varieties to achieve full ripeness, providing optimum conditions for picking.

winemaking

The fruit was picked according to when flavours peaked in each block. At perfect ripeness, the fruit was selectively hand-picked at dawn, before being hand loaded into an airbag press and gently squeezed. The free-run juice was continuously tasted until an optimum point was reached which ensured only juice of the finest quality was used in the blend.

All juice went straight from the press into new French oak puncheons to undergo wild fermentation. Following fermentation, the wine remained in barrel for 7–10 months, with monthly lees stirring to provide texture and mouthfeel. Each batch, and each barrel type within each batch, was carefully assessed for inclusion in the final Redbrook blend. The wine was then stabilised and filtered once prior to bottling and maturation prior to release. This minimal handling has produced a unique, delicate Redbrook Chardonnay style that will develop great complexity over time.

region

Margaret River 

variety

Chardonnay

analysis

• Alcohol: 13%
• pH: 3.1
• Acidity (TA): 8.1 g/L

Baked red snapper with garlic and thyme butter.

Wine Show of Western Australia 2022

National Wine Show of Australia 2021

Margaret River Wine Show 2021

Perth Royal Wine Awards 2021

Sydney Royal Wine Awards 2021

Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2022

Halliday wine companion 2022

Hand picked, whole-bunch pressed, wild ferment in barrel (35% new), 18% mlf, on lees for 16 months, stirred for 10, before a quiet, untouched 6 months on lees prior to bottling. Crushed cashew, white peach, briny acidity and silky phenolics on the palate. Seamless, creamy and classy, this is perfectly Margaret River, in a perfect year. Lovely stuff.

Ray Jordan top 100 whites, sparkling & rosés

Such a fine and delicate sophisticated chardonnay here. Minerally grapefruit aromas strike on the nose while the palate delivers with deft precision and focus. The stone fruit citrus and faint pear character on the palate are held with a super fine-grained oak contribution.

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Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate 2022

The 2018 Redbrook Chardonnay is concentrated, savory and powerful and is moving into its next phase of evolutio—from the initial "primary and taut" on release, to this phase that is more spicy, more relaxed and more open. It has a heady combination of charred brûlée top, grilled peach, brine, grapefruit and exotic market spice. The telltale sign of quality here is the length of flavor in the mouth—it goes and goes, reconfirming for us all the class and quality of the Redbrook range.

93