Availability: Direct from winery here and VQA stores
Cost: $18.99
Alcohol: 13.9%
Production: 1457 cases
Date Tasted: June 18th, 2013
Tasting Notes: Year-in, year-out, you can expect the Tinhorn Creek Chardonnay to be well made and tasty but the 2012 edition seems to be at a cross-roads of style: to oak or not to oak. Classic Tinhorn stonefruit and ripe orchard fruit grace the nose and palate but to achieve a more memorable balance the wine needs to resolve an apparent conflict between the stainless steel and oak barrel lots. The blended wine goes through a secondary, malolactic fermentation to soften the natural acidity which helps cohesion by enriching the nose and palate with buttery characters and a light cream texture but underneath the prominent fruit remains defiant and slightly out-of-sync.
In the future, it would be interesting to see Tinhorn release two Chardonnays. An un-oaked, fruit driven Chardonnay with only moderate MLF influence and an Oldfield Series, fully oak fermented Chardonnay given time in the bottle to mature prior to release. Enjoy this Chardonnay in its youth. Drink now-2015.
- Liam Carrier ©copyright 2013 IconWines.ca
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