Print this Wine         1998 Clarendon Hills "Norton Summit" Chardonnay   NORTON SUMMIT, ADELAIDE HILLS                 January Release   Chardonnay       The white wines made by Roman Bratasiuk are really reds masquerading as whites. They have the same intensity of his reds. They have the same boldness as his reds. They display the same old world characteristics as his reds. Yet they are still white wines. Look to another producer if you want the more common Australian white wine style which is fruit driven. These are complex, intense wine. There is no escaping the fact that this is a smelly wine. Smelly in the best Burgundian tradition. Here bacon fat meets mushrooms meets onions, and that’s just the first whiff. Enjoy them if you like these characters or decant the wine and give it a good half an hour or so to let some of the more potent aromas blow away, which they do. Underpinning these initial flavors are minerals and earthy notes. There are obvious new oak flavors as well. Tasting the wine you get an idea of the fruit for the first time, such is the power of the complexing flavors. There are some peach and melon characters although this wine was made not to be fruity and the fruit only supports the structural components. The earthy and mineral flavors are the most prominent and the finish tingles with zesty acid. As is the case with all of Roman’s wines you can confidently cellar it. Most Australian Chardonnay peaks very soon after bottling and very few drink well after 5 years. This wine will just be starting to open up at this stage. It will probably approach its peak as it nears 10 years of age. If you do open a bottle in the near future serve it with poultry, particularly if the sauce has mushrooms or truffles as an important ingredient. The pungent aroma of musky fungus will highlight the rich earthy characters in the wine.           Shelf Talkers require Acrobat Reader 6.0 click here to download

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