Giaconda Chardonnay 2005 Wednesday, Feb 21 2007
Tasting Notes and Australia and Beechworth and Variety and White and chardonnay
A group of us got together to benchmark Chardonnays. All wines are served blind. This time the spotlight was on the 2005 vintage although some French wines from 2004 snuck in along with a couple of Aussie benchmarks such as the Giaconda. This wine was a highlight for me, it looked great, pity we only had a single bottle. I am aware that some winoramista are over this style, but I love it. The nose has some citrus plus a slight reduced character that I associate with solids. The palate showed these characters but the pencil shaving oak influence is high with a bit of yeast ester. Very fresh and quite long with a long future. The tasting also brought up some discussion about closures. Giaconda have not used Diam to seal their wines and this example looked perfect. Interestingly, two of us took the same benchmark, made by another producer. Both bottles were sealed under Diam, but they looked different, one bottle showing fresher fruit than the other. One of the local makers wine, also sealed under Diam did not look very good, so once it was revealed he opened another that looked fresher. The closure issue is very tricky and one thing we have not tried before is to look at multiple examples of one wine sealed under the same closure. A possible future project for the renowned GW?
Tasted : Feb07
Alcohol : 13.8%
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2007 - 2012
Source : Nathaniel J White
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11 Responses to “Giaconda Chardonnay 2005”
February 21st, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I’m with you David - I love it. Rick suffers from a bit of tall poppy syndrome I reckon. His Chardonnay, Shiraz and Rousseanne are all tremendous wines - amongst the best of their variety and style in Australia.
I’d be interested to hear how the screwcap and Diam-sealed versions go side-by-side.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:08 am
Glad I ordered 6 Chard in Stelvin and 6 Shiraz in Diam. Cant wait to get them! Are they starting shipments or was this a specialty sample?
February 22nd, 2007 at 7:23 am
I suspect it was a special since Nat is a friend of Ricks.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:18 am
David - great to hear the ‘05 “Big G” is shaping up well. I’m curious what else was in your line up … brief notes would be welcome but even a listing alone would be interesting to see what your peer group views as the benchmark. From a flavour and texture perspective I’ve tended to regard the Giaconda as leaning more towards the oxidative rather than reduced style but that may just be me confusing/inferencing some winemaker practices with the relative unique (Australian) flavors Giaconda produces.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Glenn it was a winemakers group from the Mornington Peninsula. There are 7 of us plus a Burgundy or 2 and a few other top Australian Chardonnays ie ones that we have great respect for. It is a confidential tasting apart from the non local wines. The wines are blind and we are constructive but criticism is actively sort. The burgundys were not my style and since it was a “special” from the importer I will not dwell on it. A closure issue with one of the other benchmarks has me keeping it confidential. Suffice to say my wine was present but I also do not comment on it. What I can say is that my biggest critic is the Chardonnay Princess and if it is not to her taste it would not be released.
February 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 am
You should call these tastings “M.P. Confidential”.
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:35 am
“I am aware that some winoramista are over this style”
I don’t think Rick would mind, he sells out in about 5 seconds anyway.
February 23rd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I was under the VERY distinct impression that Giaconda came under natural cork or screwcappie. No Diam.
GW
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 pm
You lost me, what wine was sealed in what?
February 24th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Obviously I don’t have another one to check. I will ask Rick. Didn’t think anyone would be brave enough to do that.
February 25th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Ricks answer “The corks we use come from Vinocor and so far after 2 vintages I haven’t seen a corked bottle yet. ”
ie natural cork. Well spotted GW.