Chardonnay  2022

TOLPUDDLE

Chardonnay
2022

Country
Australia
Regulated designation
Table wine
Region
Tasmania
Subregion
Tasmania
Varietal(s)
Chardonnay 100 %
Colour
White
Producer's website

About this winery

It is rare that a completely new release comes to market with such universal acclaim. Tolpuddle Vineyards Pinot Noir and Chardonnay have been hailed as "a new benchmark for Australian Pinot Noir" and "a confident, intense dry white in Australia-meets-Chablis mold, revealing the vineyard source and the purity of fruit that that entails, a Michelangelo's David to the many Goliaths out there." Decanter Magazine, JancisRobinson.com and critics Huon Hooke, Anthony Rose, and Jamie Goode have all been...

See the TOLPUDDLE detail page for more information on this brand

Tasting notes

Succulence and power, with great purity, aromas of white flowers, and flavors of mandarin and white peach, with a dash of sea-spray. Fine and precise with firm acidity, and a combination of lightness of texture and intensity of flavor.

Press reviews

Decanter

- 98 points -

September 2022 (Vintage 2021)

 A relaxed nose belies the seductive roll and swirl of a full and voluptuous fruit profile, and a cooler vintage brings a cohesive yet concentrated voice to a tightly-wound meld of flavours. A savoury edge allows minerality to shine, while vibrant energy that tremulously ripples along a lengthy acid spine will maintain the verve in this vintage for a long time.

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Wine Advocate

- 98 points -

December 2022 (Vintage 2021)

I was shocked at the intensity of the 2021 Chardonnay when I first tasted it. How could a wine so young have this much flavor? It is polished, glassy and graceful. It unfurls in the mouth and soars long over the horizon. It's balanced and powerful, crouching at this early stage, but all the building blocks of greatness are here. A wine of extension, expansion and elegance—a formidable trio.

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James Suckling

- 98 points -

January 2020 (Vintage 2019)

This has power and complexity and the right grade of reductive flair, overlaid on fresh yellow grapefruit and peach with flint and wet chalk, as well as attractive oak in the background. The palate has mouthwatering white-peach and lemon flavors with a deep draw of acidity that drives the finish in really deep, precise and fresh. Lip-smacking resolve here. Elegance, poise and whip-cracking freshness.

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Decanter

- 97 points -

August 2020 (Vintage 2019)

The filigree structure is a study in delicate balance between pure varietal character, site differentiation and winemaker vision. Lean and bony, its fruit is bound in a taut frame of citrus-tinged acidity, yet the finely drawn flavours show unusual intensity and persistence. Keep looking beyond the pastel sketch of white peach and lemon, and deep down there’s struck flint, a hint of seasoned oak, a lick of wet granite – nothing overt, nothing that doesn’t add to the sum of the parts.

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James Halliday (Australian Wine Companion)

- 97 points -

June 2021 (Vintage 2013)

The colour is still a pale quartz-green, the freshness excellent; the most remarkable part of this wine is its combination of finesse, length and intensity of varietal fruit flavour, in turn based on the laser etching of Tasmanian acidity. The drink to date may prove conservative.

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Wine Advocate

- 97 points -

November 2023 (Vintage 2022)

The Tolpuddle Chardonnay is routinely a class act, polished and piercing in every vintage iteration, and somehow delivers a deeply satisfying, comforting flow of flavor atop the more intellectual framing that it is known for. Here, the 2022 Chardonnay leads with white peach and flowers, layers of green apple, saltbush, ocean spray, gently leafy herbs and tobacco to close. In the mouth, the tannins expand to fill the space, creating a capacious feeling—a cavern, almost. Suffice it to say, this is a wonderful wine, again. Gently grippy through the finish, it's totally composed. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

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James Suckling

- 97 points -

October 2022 (Vintage 2021)

I like the slate, flint and stone aromas to the sliced apples and white dried pineapple. Lemon curd. Some honeysuckle, too. Full-bodied, with creamy texture and extremely long finish. Complete and beautiful. So well crafted.

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James Suckling

- 96 points -

Ned Goodwin MW, September 2023 (Vintage 2022)

Always a very good chardonnay. Often among the New World's best. This said, it is always a pungent, flinty reductive iteration, considerably different to the more generous norm in these parts. Medium-bodied and typically taut, reeling off truffle, leesy oatmeal and white peach notes across a tautly furled, almost gritty climax of praline and hazelnut accents. This will age exceptionally well.

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Wine Advocate

- 96 points -

Erin Larkin, December 2022 (Vintage 2013)

Where the cool 2012 vintage shows almond meal and oat at this 10-year interval, the nine-year-old 2013 Chardonnay hails from a warm vintage, and that has built a robustness into the wine. This is powerful and long, with no break in programming over the palate. It’s seriously good, seriously fresh and full. The acidity is saline and refreshing, and it's woven with invisible threads throughout each part of the wine. With incredible intensity and lingering fruit, it’s simply awesome. This has entered a new phase of drinking here, reaching an apogee moment in time. Sensational.

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James Suckling

- 95 points -

March 2015

Wonderful aromas of apple pie, straw and mineral. Hints of dried apple, too. Full body, bright acidity and an oyster-shell, apple and mineral aftertaste. So layered and intense but delicate and beautiful. 

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 Wine Enthusiast

- 95 points -

#53

November 2023 (Vintage 2021)

In what has become an unmistakably Tolpuddle (and heavily Burgundy-influenced) style, this is a rich, intensively reductive Chardonnay that's set for the long haul. For now, there's a sulfuric potency, like a just-struck match combined with roasted cashews and buttered toast. Somewhere in the mix, a fruity note like pineapple rind or peach skin, emerges. The palate is similarly toast-driven, but it wears it well, that to its inherent power: textural weight, lifted acidity and depth of flavor. You could drink it now but it'd be a shame.

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Wine Spectator

- 93 points -

October 2021 (Vintage 2020)

Wonderfully vibrant and sleek, with mouthwatering intensity to the Meyer lemon, lime sherbet and toasted sesame seed notes, with accents of orange blossom and fresh lemon verbena that linger on the long, expressive and refreshing finish. 

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Jancis Robinson

17.5 Points

October 2022 (Vintage 2021)

A dream. Always looked approachable and lovely. Fabulous tension on the nose. And a very broad, satisfying fruit that really fills in every space on the palate. Best yet!

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