Wine By Nine

White Wine by Philip Shaw from Australia. A brilliant clear gold color with green highlights. Complex aromas of lemon, spring blossom, and dried fig with notes of grapefruit. Delightfully refreshing! The palate delivers racey fruit with a mineral spine, creamy oak, cashews, and pear with a long elegant lemon acidity. Firm but not hard, velvet. She is a gorgeous elegant young lady, sure to age gracefully. No.11 is my dream Chardonnay plot. It slopes to the south, away from the sun making it one of the coolest sites in the vineyard - ideal for Chardonnay. - Philip Shaw

White Wine by d'Arenberg from South Australia, Australia. Since 1912 the Osborn family has tended the 19th century vineyards at their d'Arenberg winery, located in South Australia, where the family often procures top quality fruit from the cool climate Adelaide Hills region, which has become one of Australia's finest Chardonnay districts. During the summer months, native Bearded Dragon Lizards sun themselves on the vineyard posts and watch out for potential prey. Occasionally during harvest, these lizards are dislodged and find their way into a load of grapes headed for the winery. Lucky for these lizards, d'Arenberg uses a very gentle Demoisy crusher, which allows these lizards to pass through the ordeal slightly shaken, yet unharmed. The gentleness of the crusher also plays an important role in retaining the delicate fruit flavors. After excellent winter rains and then a warm wet spring, the vineyards were set for a good start to vintage. Flowering was consistent, and in general crop loads were higher than normal. McLaren Vale experienced the coldest January for 12 years followed by a warm February which provided perfect ripening conditions and the result was fruit of outstanding character, concentration and excellent natural acidity. The success of this wine is put down to the evenness of the ripening period leading up to picking in the early autumn and extremely protective handling in the winery to preserve the wonderful fruit characters. The nose is immediately inviting with volumes of pear, pineapple, tropical fruits, guava, hints of peach, green melon, citrus and very fine sweet toasted oaks. Medium to full in style with the level of ripeness in perfect balance with the elevated acidity and the characteristic cool climate flowery Granny Smith apples that linger to the end with fine oak spices, and citric passionfruit character. Probably the best Lucky Lizard yet.

White Wine by Green Point from Yarra Valley, Australia. Fruit for the Reserve Yarra Valley Chardonnay was sourced largely from vineyards on the Yarra Valley floor where the alluvial soils and growing conditions provide Chardonnay with great richness. Fruit was also sourced from vineyards in the Upper Yarra where the cooler conditions provide more delicate and fragrant characteristics with greater acid structure. A vibrant pale straw with a green hue. The wine has a fragrant aroma of white peach, lemon butter and honeydew enhanced by subtle, fresh roasted hazelnut and cashew aromas derived from barrel fermentation. On the palate, lemon, grapefruit and white peach flavors provide a racy, fresh entry before leading to a creamy and smooth mid palate. Extended maturation in fine grained French oak barriques adds structure and length to the finish.

White Wine by Cape Mentelle from Margaret River, Australia. Appearance: Pale gold in appearance Aroma: Aromas of nectarines and figs combined with the sweet spice of gingernut biscuits greet the nose. Palate: The palate opens with rich quince paste and cardamon spiced poached pears. The mid-palate has refined peaches and cream, subtle mealy notes and a lingering finish resonating with crisp lemon zest.

White Wine by Wolf Blass from Australia. The Gold Label Adelaide Hills Chardonnay is soft gold with a hint of green colour in the glass. Aromas of grapefruit and nectarine develop into a full, rich, yet elegant palate with varietal chardonnay flavours, a complex creamy texture and long finish. Char-grilled chicken and avocado salad. The screwcap closure ensures the freshness and character of the wine is preserved and enables upright cellaring for longer periods. This wine is enjoyable now but will continue to improve with careful cellaring for years to come.

White Wine by Trevor Jones from Australia. It's called a Virgin Chardonnay because it is untouched by any oak influence. The only wood that had anything to do with this wine was the trunks of the vines on which the grapes grew. This wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks. The result is a fresh, elegant wine, with great depth of rich ripe fruit, redolent of stonefruit, peaches and lychees. There is an underlying richness provided by the time spent on lees, combined with subtle complexity of the malolactic ferment component. The finish is soft yet crisp, with a hint of fruit sweetness balanced with an approachable acid level to leave a long, savory, flavorsome finish.

White Wine by Giant Steps from Yarra Valley, Australia. Hand picked, sorted and whole bunch pressed with minimal sulphur. Barrel fermented and aged on lees with minimal handling, gravity racking and a gentle filtration prior to bottling 12 months later. Minimal MLF. Bottled with a screw cap. Cool, dry ripening seasons allow us to draw out the palate whilst tightening up the finish. Nose - characteristically complex nectarine, white peach and citrus with underlying secondary cashew and grain meal. Palate - firm, yet creamy textural wine overlayed with minerally lemon zest and nectarine. Very good aging potential.

White Wine by Tyrrell's from Hunter Valley, Australia. The color is pale gold with a slight green hue. Tyrrell's Reserve Chardonnay exhibits rich Chardonnay fruit and spicy vanillin oak aromas. Made in a refined, fruit-driven style that still exhibits crisp citrus and white stone fruit flavors, with a palate that has gained extra texture from extended maturation on yeast lees.

White Wine by Trevor Jones from Australia. This wine continues a philosophy of crafting a pure Virgin Chardonnay from free run juice that exhibits great depth of herbaceous fruit flavours without oak maturation. The delicate characteristics of peach, melon and passionfruit, combined with subtle complexity gives this wine its renowned pedigree. With a full-bodied structure and delicate crisp finish. This wine is ideal with seafood and poultry.

White Wine by Climbing from Australia. Winemaker Philip Shaw says of the 2006 Chardonnay, This wine has lovely bright, lemony, tropical fruit characters. It shows flavor complexity from time on yeast lees and in oak. Also apparent is elegance and refinement, which is typical of the Orange region. I like the intensity of fruit flavor on the palate, as well as the length and noticeable creamy finish. This is drinking really well now and will continue to evolve over the next 3 to 5 years.

White Wine by d'Arenberg from McLaren Vale, Australia. The 2005 Olive Grove Chardonnay displays aromas of tropical fruit, pineapple, summer flowers, figs, guava and a hint of oak. The palate is well structured with flavors of passionfruit, mango, and pineapple. The finish is smooth with crisp acidity.

White Wine by Yalumba from Barossa Valley, Australia. The Wild Ferment Chardonnay features the use of a natural or wild yeast ferment for all batches of juice, where the juice is encouraged to ferment with the indigenous yeasts present on the grape skins from the vineyard. The many individual yeasts each participate in some way to build layers of complexity and finesse into the wine. Further palate structure is built through extended lees contact and regular lees stirring. The fine-grained French barriques have also contributed an additional lift, fragrance and finesse to the wine. Yalumba Eden Valley Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2006 is pale golden straw in color with a bright rim. Creamy almond nougat and toasted cashew aromas are threaded with bright citrus peel and white nectarines. The palate is brimming with creamy stone-fruit flavors with a crisp lemony brightness, fine toasty oak nuances and a refreshing finish.