-
97
/ 100
James Halliday's Wine Companion -
95+
/ 100
Gary Walsh -
95
/ 100
James Suckling
White
Classification
Chardonnay
Variety
2022
Vintage
750ml (Bottle)
Bottle Size
Australia
Country
New South Wales, Hunter Valley
Region
13.0%
Alcohol %
15 Plus Years
Cellaring
Scores
97 / 100"The grapes for this thoroughly modern, historically significant chardonnay are sourced entirely from Tyrrell's 55-year-old Short Flat estate vineyard, and the cool season resulted in a wine with remarkable tension on the front palate, plus acid-driven intensity and length. The palate is beautifully complete with breadth and generosity while being refined and restrained simultaneously. The beauty in this wine is the micro detail giving discreet, sophisticated complexity. It has impressive balance and flow, and I expect it to evolve beautifully with time."
- James Halliday's Wine Companion
95+ / 100
"Nutty nougat, white peach, spice and assorted citrus. There’s a little cedar spice oak, but wonderful volume of peach and citrus flavour, fine chalky and flinty texture, fennel seed perfume, a lovely toasty roundness mixed with citrine tang, fine bones with juiciness, and a zesty citrus finish of excellent length. Maybe a little peachy, but so much potential. It will be all that and more, with a couple of years in the cellar. How is it so!""
- Gary Walsh
95 / 100
"The flagship, yet with only 10% new oak. 40- 50% used oak, mind you. The most tightly knit and paradoxically, at least from an initial tasting perspective, the most intense of these chardonnays. Peach crumble, vanilla pod and cinnamon stick. There is a wonderful, midweighted flamboyance here, typical of region, corseted by well-pointed acidity and classy oak. A chardonnay for the hedonists as much as for the sophisticates. Drink or hold. Screw cap."
- James Suckling
Tasting Notes
Murray Tyrrell created the Winemaker’s Selection range back in 1965 when, with the assistance of Len Evans, he set out to determine the best wines from each vintage. He named these wines after the casks in which they were matured. In 1974, having discovered that we had up to six casks from the same vineyard block that all tasted much the same, we brought the selection down to about 12 wines in total – a mixture of whites and reds. The early 2000s saw a further consolidation with the inauguration of the Sacred Sites range and the expansion of our Single Vineyard program. Today, the Winemaker’s Selections are estate-grown on the various blocks that form the wines that we believe best represent our land and house style. These wines are only bottled in years when we believe that the quality is high enough to meet our exacting standards.
The nose is classic Vat 47 with delicate citrus and white stone fruit with a hint of creaminess and oak spice. The palate is medium-bodied and shows tightly focussed Chardonnay fruit that is balanced by textural elements derived from the solids ferment and extended time on yeast lees. The purity, intensity, and length of fruit is quite similar to 2021, if not a touch better.
Tasting Profile
- Light
- Full
- Sweet
- Dry
- Low Acidity
- High Acidity
- Smooth
- Complex