WITH TONY LOVE

You’ve heard the noise about Australian chardonnay: its rebirth, its coming of age, its contemporary sophistication.

Now there’s a new wave of chardonnay adding handsomely to that message. Its role is the parallel story of Australian sparkling wine. We see it labelled as “Blanc de Blancs”.

Blanc de Blancs is highly prized in Champagne, and now we are seeing a lot more attention to chardonnay-only sparklings here.

Australia has a lot of chardonnay in the ground, critically in cooler climate regions. Yarra Valley-based Chandon has tapped into this resource for its sparkling portfolio, offering a single vineyard, a multi-regional/ non-vintage and vintage, and a late disgorged style.

Chandon winemaker Dan Buckle believes there is a huge opportunity with chardonnay in Australia because of its availability, and not just because it’s the current fashion.

“Australian wine lovers understand that the variety can translate its terroir, its age, and distinctive winemaking to express different styles,” Buckle says.

Vital to expressing the variety and style of the Chandon sparkling Blanc de Blancs range is the mantra that the freshness of the fruit is paramount.

The non-vintage version is the most friendly and easiest to drink. Although it is available only in restaurants at the moment, it will be stocked in retail shops from early 2018.

The 2013 vintage versions come in single vineyard and multi-regional variations. The Chandon 2013 Whitlands Plateau Blanc de Blancs ($42) from a single Victorian Alpine Valleys site is all about the purity of the white stone fruits and lemonzest characters. The Chandon 2013 Blanc de Blancs ($41) – from Whitlands, Strathbogie Ranges, Yarra Valley and Tasmanian fruit – has the most developed funky, toasty characters in the range, what Buckle calls “traditional method savoir faire”.

The shining star is the Chandon Late Disgorged 2006 Blanc de Blancs ($115), with those three Victorian regions in play. It has spent 10 years on lees yet has still produced a wine with fantastic complexity and depth: dried pear, gingernut biscuits, dark honey on toast, yet with lively acidity and mouth-watering freshness.

“The paradox of pedigree vineyards and really great grapes is that the rate of maturation is really slow,” Buckle says. “The wonderful thing about wine alchemy is that you can have 10 years on lees and still produce a wine that tastes so fresh.”