Shaw and Smith Lenswood Chardonnay 2021

Fermented wild in new and used 500L puncheons; matured for 10 months with the occasional stir. Among the country's varietal exemplars. Transparent and tensile with an additional nuance of flavour, vibrato and mineral cohesion etched into the firmament of complexity each year. White peach, toasted hazelnut, jasmine and nougatine teem long. The oak, nestled beautifully, serves as a framing backdrop rather than the centrepiece. A wine of precision, intense flavours and immense class.

The 2021 Lenswood Vineyard Chardonnay is creamy and restrained. It's a wholly classy affair layered with chalky phenolics, salted peach, lashings of white miso green apples, leafy things (bay and sage) and loads of salted crushed nuts. Elegant to the end, and totally streamlined, all elements are in harmony. It's composed of a combination of Bernard clones 95 and 76 and planted at the Lenswood site at an elevation of 500 meters. It's a good-looking site—lush, healthy, gorgeous.

Such a deep nose, with a wide spectrum of candied citrus, fresh butter and stunning, leesy complexity. Great concentration and restrained richness, with wonderful mineral freshness give this near-perfect balance.