30 years of Eileen Hardy Chardonnay

To celebrate the family matriarch’s 80th birthday in 1973, her four children instigated the release of the first Eileen Hardy McLaren Vale Shiraz from the 1970 vintage. Three years later she received the OBE and then in 1986 the first Eileen Hardy Chardonnay was released. In June the Hardy family presented at London merchant Berry Bros every vintage released. Flight 1, ‘In Search of Complexity’, spanned 1986 to 1996, when the wines came first from the cool-climate Padthaway region, joined from 1992 by Yarra Valley and from 1995 by Adelaide Hills. There was no malolactic fermentation then and the freshness of each wine was amazing: the 1986 tasting half its age, the broad yet sprightly 1990, the creamy, lifted 1995 and the superb 1996. Flight 2, ‘The Cool-Climate Revolution (1997-2003), saw a move towards precise flavours, especially from the Tasmania-dominated 2000s, winemaker Tom Newton saying 2002 was ‘the best we’ve ever made’. Flight 3, ‘Refinement of a Lady’ (2004-2014), witnessed the move to screwcaps with the floral/lemony yet naturally rich 2005 and 2006 being grand cru quality, run close by the 100% Tasmanian 2009, closely followed by youngsters 2012 and 2013.