2016 Scorpo Estate Chardonnay

Scorpo

Australia / Mornington Peninsula / Scorpo

Pale straw with green tints, this Chardonnay is appealing from the outset. A nose of nectarine pip, citrus curd, spice and earth lead into lees and struck match. To begin with the palate is tight and focused with citrus and fennel spice dominating. This gives way to nougat, stone fruit hints with leesy complexity and the acidity of crunchy green apple. Although drinking wonderfully now this will reward those with the patience to cellar or for that matter to decant!

October, 2017

Mike Bennie

The Wine Front

93 points

I’ll leave the ‘Estate’ out of this wine for continuity of reviews, but there’s now also ‘Aubaine’ and ‘Eocene’ that bookend this release. Classy wine since forever.
Quite high toned floral perfume, shows some struck match/flint too, lean citrus character in the mix, even a touch of green herbs. I like it. The palate is quite lean but has a pleasing saline-mineral character layered on chalky, green apply fruit flavours and just a suggestion of marzipan oak character. It’s lovely, albeit quite green in its spectrum of fruit, though that curl of savouriness is there to lend a hand. I like the understatement, the pronounced mineral charm. It’s curious, complex, distinct and delicious stuff.

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About Scorpo

Scorpo has for some time sat comfortably within the highest rank of Australian cool-climate winegrowers, quietly composing excellent wines and steadily raising the bar year upon year. The planning, planting, nurturing and honing of the vineyard absorb the attention of trained horticulturist and landscape architect Paul Scorpo. The process of perfecting the site continues, with closer plantings and more precise clonal selections the latest developments. The vineyard rolls over red/brown, clay-rich soils derived from tertiary Eocene volcanics dating back about 40 million years. The vines are planted at an altitude of between 70 and 100m on a north- to northeast-facing slope with a 10% gradient. It’s a brilliant suntrap with ideal drainage to slowly grow and ripen grapes. The celebrated Pinot Gris is planted both here and on the other side of the ridge - the southwest-exposed slope towards Port Phillip Bay. The wines are consistently imbued with nuance, depth and texture. They are wines which - without ever raising their voice - resonate equally with the mind and senses.

About

Fine wine is in the Scorpo blood, stretching across generations and geography – from Sicily to Sardinia and now Australia. Paul has worked for over 25 years as a horticulturalist and landscape architect, and this professional and personal connection to the land has instilled the importance of care and consideration for environments at Scorpo Wines. The Scorpo family has a strong connection to their vineyard – the unique land, soil and climate are what enable them to produce distinctive wines with a sense of place. Paul and wife Caroline searched for four years to find the ideal site for their vineyard. Having extensively researched the Mornington Peninsula’s cool, maritime microclimates, they realised that this area was the perfect place for their project. Now this family is making the most of this heritage by growing premium grapes to express their beloved pocket of the peninsula.