July 2022
MMAD VINEYARD
Chenin Blanc Blewitt Springs 2021
I hope the producers in the east don’t take this the wrong way, but as a West Aussie, it is a heartening and thrilling thing to witness such beauty in Chenin Blanc here from McLaren Vale. The area is so suited, it surprises me there aren’t more great ones made. The only other that comes to mind is Aphelion. Two-thirds of the grapes from the newly acquired vineyard in Blewitt Springs were crushed and fermented in concrete fermenters, the other third was whole-bunch pressed and fermented in old 500-liter puncheons. Took a long time for it to chart its course over the year. The 2021 Mmad Chenin Blanc matured on lees, left cold and untouched for a quite a long time. In the mouth, this has soapstone, green apple and cheesecloth. The acidity is briny and fine, with a lanolin character that is woven throughout the palate. It has fabulous texture in the mouth – this is wonderfully typically Australian, distinctly different from South Africa and Loire. It has brilliant intensity of flavour, purity, concentration, poise and shape. Very good. There are notes of white peach, pear, waxy grip. Awesome. It will be better in time, too.
About Wine Advocate
The Wine Advocate was a bi-monthly publication and Robert Parker Wine Advocate continues this tradition, although articles and reviews are now published every week. The main goal is to publish regionally focused reports, which mainly offer wine reviews of new wine releases, but they also produce important vintage retrospectives and occasionally single-label verticals and producer profiles. Since 2019, Robert Parker Wine Advocate has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Michelin Group.