2019 Longview Macclesfield Chardonnay

Attractive aromas of fresh white peaches and hazelnuts with nougat and lemon zest. The palate has good depth and attractive, spiced-peach flavors and toasted hazelnuts to close. Drink now. Screw cap.

Sweet, ripe peach and nectarine aromas, exuberant and alive, the palate full and rounded, softened by a smidge of apparent sweetness. Liberal oak. Moderate length. A satisfying glass of traditional chardonnay.

Lots of contemporary chardonnay winemaking here, and a '19 vintage stamp of ripe peachy fruit steps to the front, sweetly spiced from a range of oak treatments and lees contact. Everything builds to a substantial finish.

Longview’s Macclesfield range is in fantastic shape; in stockbroking terms their rating has just moved from Hold to Buy. But the one wine in the range in need of work is the chardonnay.There’s excellent fruit here but the popcorn notes, the butter and the cedarwood characters are too much. There’s peachy fruit behind but every time I came near this the butter notes dominated. Style and quality are two very different things; the ‘richer’ style is as valid as any. But the balance is out here.