Pemberton, WA Wine Packs

Sometimes only a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc will do. So here are six exceptional examples for you to have a crack at, from WA, Coonawarra and the Adelaide Hills.

Picardy’s Sauv Blanc Sem (85% SB) is superb and age-worthy. Three distinct clones of Sauv Blanc are used along with two different yeast strains. On opening it seems soft and delicate, but as it airs, minerality, guava, lime, passionfruit and all manner of complexities emerge. Deep Wood's trophy-winning Margaret River SSB is also a cracker, as persistent as it is aromatic and laden with citrus and tropicals. The Chain of Ponds SB is crisp and offers a lovely mix of greenery and passionfruit.

The Riposte, made by the legendary Tim and Nick Knappstein, is textural, succulent and pungent; a joy to drink. Howard are major growers in the Adelaide Hills and supply substantial quantities of fruit to what are arguably the two best known producers of SB in the region. This, their own bottling, is of course excellent too. Finally, the Cape Jaffa SB is also lovely with tropical fruits, citrus and more at play.

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We put out a high-end Chard pack a month or two back - clearly there's an appetite :-)

With that in mind, here's version two, pitting a superb French White Burgundy (Chardonnay) against one of the best Aussie Chardonnays produced today.

In the Green and Gold corner, Picardy Pemberton Chardonnay 2022

40 years ago, Bill Pannell, who pioneered the Margaret River wine region, building Moss Wood and earning their Cabernet worldwide acclaim, sold up and chased his burgeoning love of French Pinot and Chardonnay. On returning to Aus, he selected land in Pemberton, Western Australia and began the expensive, difficult and lengthy process of importing from Burgundy four of the very best clones of Chardonnay, a process which took about a decade.

He and his son Dan then pioneered the Pemberton wine region. They are just beginning to be acknowledged as being amongst the finest producers of Chardonnay (and Pinot) in Aus.

Picardy Chardonnay 2022

Intensity, power, elegance, and complexity. Spectacularly graceful and elegant Chardy made from Dijon clones 76, 95, 96 and 277. Stone fruits and lemon butter, chalkiness and with crystalline acidity. A wine with balance, precision and purity, with intense stone fruit carried forward by grapefruity acidity, which is softened by creaminess and complexed by super high-quality French oak and a slight phenolic grip.

In the baguette/snail/stinky cheese corner: Jean Loron Pouilly Fuisse 2019

The Jean Loron Pouilly Fuisse is a White Burgundy, AKA French Chardy, from the most highly-prized place on earth for its production, and it is a stunner. It's marginally less powerful than the Picardy at the moment, but given its age, slightly more complex.

Jean Loron Pouilly Fuisse 2019

Burgundy expert Bill Nanson said of the Jean Loron in 2020: 'this wine is about the future... more complexity and vibrance to this aroma, more barrel, saline, concentrated and certainly mineral. The finish is subtle but very persistent. The oak is ever-present but here’s a wine that’s rather complete – and having tasted older vintages I know that the oak fades into the background – you should give this wine at least three years in the cellar – or I would, anyway. Excellent wine, with the potential for great. Tasted in 2020.' We can confirm, this wine is now perfectly poised for drinking now and over the next five to eight years.

All in, there's $540 worth of Chardy here for just $360, and both are exceptional. Grab two of these six-packs and they'll come to you FREIGHT FREE.

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When Pinot is good, it's absolutely magical... and generally terrifyingly expensive. Common refrains of inveterate Pinot drinkers include 'that's bloody good for $30', and the slightly unconvincing 'nice Pinot', uttered with equal parts relief and lament, 'cos it's decent and tastes like Pinot, but doesn't offer that ethereal, magical, sense-enveloping and expanding magic that Pinot can deliver, albeit frustratingly infrequently. We're here to fix that today, with this Pinot six-pack, which includes: 2x $28 Pinots that are better than most $40 Pinots. This is the Knappstein; light to medium bodied, fragrant, with great acidity. A lovely, moreish drop. 2x $40 Pinots which are excellent, perfumed, powerful and yet light on their feet. This is the Heirloom Velvet Fog; wafting an ethereal and refined Pinot fug, medium bodied, powerful, long and lovely. 2x $70 a bottle, best in class, Burgundian cloned STUNNERS. This is the Picardy, which is in the top handful of Pinots made in Aus. Medium bodied, superlative fruit and glassine, Burgundy-like tannins to finish. Over the past couple of vintages, at least two wine writers have named Picardy their fave Pinot of the year. It's that good! Learn More