Toolangi Chardonnay 2019

Description

Helmut Konecsny, the owner of Rochford Wines, has purchased Toolangi Vineyards and has immediately started ringing in the changes. Of course, it’s early days, but from what we have seen so far, the future for Toolangi now looks very, very bright. Apart from the new packaging, Konecsny and his team seem very serious about rejuvenating and upgrading the work in the vines. This was, after all, one of the few Yarra producers to engage the services of renowned soil scientist Claude Bourguignon on his recent visit to Australia, and the Toolangi vineyard was one of the sites he analysed. In terms of winemaking, Toolangi will now control its own destiny with the talented duo of Kaspar Hermann (stints at Seville Estate, Viticoltori De Concillis in Campania, Coldstream Hills, Punch and 8 years as assistant winemaker at Mount Mary before joining Toolangi) and Kelly Healey (started his wine career in Otago in his homeland of New Zealand then Chandon in the Yarra Valley and Moet & Chandon in India, followed by a spell at Kilchurn in Macedon). Crucial to the Toolangi team is experienced viticulturist, John Evans (previously Chief Viticulturist at Yering Station for 14 years, Vineyard Manager at Yarra Ridge and worked at De Bortoli, as well as various Vineyard Consulting roles including the setup and redevelopment of Toolangi Vineyard in 2001, which he has continued to this day.)  Safe to say, John knows the Yarra like the back of his hand and exactly how to get the best from the Toolangi vineyard.
There are now only two tiers of wine—the Toolangi and Paul’s Lane labels.

Only the second vintage under Kaspar Hermann, 2019 provided Toolangi with wonderfully balanced Chardonnay fruit with concentration of flavour and exceptional natural acidity. The fruit was hand-harvested from Toolangi’s 18-year-old plantings (on A, B and G Blocks), crushed and pressed with full solids straight to oak (10% new). No malo was allowed, and the wine spent ten months on lees in barrel before bottling.

95 points, Winecompanion.com.au “18yo vines, clones I10V3 and Mendoza, hand-picked, crushed and pressed with juice solids to French puncheons (10% new), no mlf, 10 months on lees. Has unexpected drive and intensity of pink grapefruit flavour.”

RRP $37  Our price $27.99 Last bottles