(2021) From the edge of the Atacama dessert and one of Chile's cooler, coastal regions, LimarÃ, this is a gorgeously fragrant wine, with classic floral, apricot and ripe pear aromas, followed by medium-bodied palate of succulent stone fruits backed up by a juicy, ripe lemon acidity. There's a creaminess to the texture and certain silliness, but the wine stays vivid and clear into the finish.
(2020) From the genuinely cooler coastal region of LimarÃ, this is fermented and aged 12 months in Burgundian oak barriques. Oak aromas, however, are tempered and refined, with delicate hazelnut and honey, just a hint of toast lightly spread with lime marmalade, a more ripe and exotic fruit just hinted at on the nose. On the palate there really is a welter-weight of fruit ripeness and juicy sweetness, again that lightly toasty and spicy creaminess from the barrel, but the acid is precise and mineral, leaving this with a lip-tingling freshness against the still sweet fruit.
(2015) Slightly deeper colour but still fresh and green. Much more subdued aromatically. The palate delivers a bug burst of flavour - fresh apple and citrus, the oak perhaps just stifling it slightly, a big lemony thrust of acidity in the finish does not seem absolutely harmonious - just a bit too citric? A New World wine I think, but not Elgin. Tasted blind.
(2013) >From the northerly Limari Valley, one of Chile's newer and cooler regions, this carefully made Chardonnay was fermented with indigenous yeasts and spent 11 months in used French oak barrels. The nose has that delightfully flinty, complex sulphide character of quality Burgundy, taut and racy with apple and fragrant pear, but a touch of frangipane with its delicate nuttiness. On the palate it is admirably cool and restrained, with a modest 13.5% alcohol and the clean bite of apple and citrus driving the mid-palate. Balanced, fine, yet substantial, this is a really nicely balanced and distinctive Chardonnay.
(2010) Twenty percent of this fermented in oak. The oak is well-managed and very subtle, but the expression slightly subdued. The palate is racy and fine, with clean, crisp, lemon freshness, but perhaps lacks a little expression for the price.
