Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2022

If you were sitting quietly in a corner, contemplating the vicissitudes of life, and a glass of this exceptional chardonnay came your way, well, all would be very well indeed. And you’d perk up. It’s a wine that tends to be scintillating in youth, driven by all manner of citrus flavours – lemon, pink grapefruit with a dash of lime but also a mille-feuille of leesy lusciousness, oak spices and a moreish savouriness. It seems powerful and explosive with its acidity, drive and energy yet manages to remain classy and complex.

The 2022 season was warm and low-yielding, particularly for Chardonnay, and many of the wines produced in the region this season can be typified by their nuttiness and a distinct chamomile tea/white flower character. Here, the 2022 Art Series Chardonnay is showing both of those characters, neatly wedged into the authoritative profile of Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay. Today, for perhaps the first time ever in seeing these wines on release, I note that the oak is a key player in the drinking experience—as ever, seamlessly matched to the fruit and an important part of the wine's style and evident here today. There are toasted nuts, yellow fruits, exotic spices and an open fan of acidity/phenolics through the finish. This 2022 will prove to be a powerful and statuesque player in the wider footprint of Art Series Chardonnays. It's one to collect, but for drinking in the short/immediate term, decanting is recommended.

Pear, grapefruit, Teddy Bear biscuits, cedar, vanilla, clove and ginger oak laying it on pretty thick, though the fruit power is there to take it. It’s juicy, honey drizzled pear, citrus, a firm chalk dust grip, with a lively grapefruit cut of acidity, some lime and lime rind richness here too, with a bold and savoury finish of excellent length. It’s wine of power and presence, and some warmth, not immediately approachable, but very good.

Light, bright yellow in the glass, polished and limpid. The bouquet shows nougat and quite strong oak in the form of sliced almond and raw hazelnut characters, while the palate has power and concentration to burn. This has the depth of flavour, intensity and length to age well; indeed it needs more time for the oak to fully integrate. Will surely build complexity in time. If opened now, it could benefit from a splashy decant.