2023 Place of Changing Winds Larderdark Chardonnay

96 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Everything about this wine oozes restraint and composure. The 2023 Larderdark Chardonnay leads with chalk and florals, citrus pith and musk sticks, crushed nuts and brine. On the palate, the wine is long and enveloping, with no hard edges or angles, and the length is a remarkable thing in and of itself. Pastry, baking spice and dried green herbs emerge. It is quite different in character to the 2022 wine, and personally, I prefer the character of this iteration.However, they are both exceptional wines. It comes from low-yielding vines (144 grams per vine, which is 12 hectoliters per hectare), went through full malolactic and matured in three Wineglobes and one new Stockinger barrique. The oak is apparent but not intrusive, and the sapid core of lime flavor is like bursting a finger lime parcel on the tongue: pure and stinging. This is a beautiful wine here. 974 bottles filled. 12.9% alcohol, sealed under screw Diam and wax.

93 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

Very low yields to bring this wine to life. Matured in wine globes (glass) and a Stockinger barrel. The site of course maturing and growing into its personality. This is a very intense and concentrated wine, rich and unctuous, soft and supple. There’s bold flavour up front, nectarine, red apple, and then a wash of honey-yoghurt, truffle butter and some gentle popcorn notes and touches of brine and a general sense of minerality. The plump flavours and swish of flavour move well up front, the finish a little diffuse and breezy, but has a bit of persistence, in a gentle way. A sense of opulence and yet a sense of washiness to the wine too. Curious. Pleasing drinking, you a good hit of the variety, it just doesn’t prosecute its case in full, despite being full.