Mayfield Vineyard Premier Range'Block 14' Chardonnay

2023 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards

2023 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards

White gardenia, lemon balm, pomelo and apple flesh. Oyster shell, crushed sand and nashi pear. The wine is tightly wound with crystalline minerality and a core of pure lemon Icy Pole citrus. Fruit is compact and oak cradles it like a hammock. This acidity shimmers like the sparkle of fresh snow, it's agile, energetic and dances across the palate. Orange chardonnay handled just right, the vineyard expression up in lights. Stunning.

Gorgeously styled and enticing, the bouquet shows grilled peach, mango, vanilla, cedar and brioche aromas, leading to a powerfully expressed palate offering awesome weight and persistency. The wine is wonderfully textured with plush mouthfeel backed by beautifully pitched acidity, finishing delectable and persistent. At its best: now to 2032.

The 2022 Block 14 Chardonnay is an elegant wine that leads with an enticing nose of citrus peel, white peach, sea spray, crushed rocks, jasmine tea and crushed nuts. On the palate, the wine is creamy and sleek, a polished, classy affair from every angle, plus quiet and restrained. It's super. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Carrying more interest than the Thomas Chardonnay, think barbecued figs, pineapple husk, roasted cashews and almonds. If that isn't enough to get the juices flowing, almond praline and toasty oak with burnt butter sauce nuances chime in for good measure. A delicious creaminess slides through the mouth, a result of 50% going through malolactic fermentation. A Mediterranean tonic-like textural presence unfurls as some ginger spice purrs on a sustained finish. Classy stuff.

This single block Chardy is, as they say, “a showcase of our vineyard”. Fermentation with 100% grape solids before transfer to new and older French puncheons, hogsheads and barrels with 50% malo. Whether one prefers this or the Thomas really will come down to personal preference as both are cracking wines. For me, this takes the biscuit by the barest whisker. A very pale lemon hue, the wine is leaner, more focused, more obviously elegant (does the small reduction in malo make that much difference or is it the vineyard source?). River stone notes, hints of stonefruit and a minerally backing. Also finely balanced with good, citrussy acidity running the length. For me, the length here is slightly superior to the Thomas, but I know that support is divided (that said, you can’t go wrong selecting either). Enjoy over the next six to eight years.

A very promising wine, showing a bit more oak than the Thomas and somewhat closed at this juncture. 2024-2033

A very light yellow with a fleck of green in the glass; a reductive nose of struck match, flint and new season nectarine with a mineral backbone. The influence oak oak gives a almond meal like aspect to the wine that is offset by and edgy lemon laced acidity. Taut stone fruits frame the mid palate with plenty of length and a grapefruit pull before a long , flinty finish.

Bright and crystalline. Plenty of struck match and minerally fine notes over fresh grapefruit and vanilla-tinged oak. Some roast nut richness under crisp stone fruit. Tight and taut. Oak wraps with a little generosity and spice, but that should integrate. Savoury and mineral, stony edges through the fine, long tail.

"... Indeed, the Mayfield Vineyard Block 14 Chardonnay 2022 is a bejewelled and refreshing white in a grapefruity and tight mode. One angle makes this look a bit lean, and the oak sits on top like a dollop of vanilla artifice. A polished core at the core, though. There is promise here – the tight and frisky palate attests to that. But for now, it’s just a very tight Orange Chardonnay. Give it a few years and it will drink well for more than five years."

Halliday Chardonnay Challenge 2023

2023 Sydney Royal Wine Show

White peach joins pink grapefruit to provide a considerable aromatic impact which is further enhanced by lees-derived complexity. The palate is intense, long and creamy, showing a mere caress of oak. ★★★★☆

Mayfield, one of the most historic vineyards in the cool Orange region in Central Western NSW is enjoying something of a renaissance with its recent releases very much on target. This is a single-block chardonnay that is full of varietal character. From an exceptionally good vintage in Orange, this is made from fruit sourced from a small block that sits on quartz-filled soil. It is a wine of intensity and poise with 50% having gone through malolactic fermentation to add the layers of flavours before being aged in quality French oak

Elegant and generous across the palate with a creamy mouthfeel, this wine has a stylish fruit, oak and acid balance with a refreshing and zesty lift. The aromas are pure and defined by white peach, nectarine and white flowers...