MMAD Chenin Blanc 2022

The second release of this wine sees more depth and texture, reflecting an evolution of making after winemaker Adam Wadewitz got the measure of grape and site – on Maslin sands over ironstone. There’s chew and race in equal measure, with tart golden apples, ripe Meyer lemon, cool stone fruit, sea spray and savoury elements of crushed fennel seed, white pepper and a waxy chalkiness. Integrated barrel/mlf notes round out flavour and feel, with an intriguing saline slip to the palate complementing the subtle grip and the pleasing rip of natural acid. It’s a superb wine, thrillingly refined and detailed. The upward trajectory of this project is one to watch very closely.

50% of the pickings were crushed and fermented to concrete and 50% was whole-bunch pressed and fermented in large-format seasoned oak. The Blewitt Springs vineyard was planted in 1939 and one does not often taste 80 year+ plus Chenin Blanc in Australia. As of 2022 the vineyard is solely in the management hands of the MMAD team. Flannel flowers, pomelo pith and pumice stone. White apple flesh, nectarine and lemon sorbet. It’s delicately floral with marine accents. Driftwood, salt spray and ozonic aromas. A white almond crunch with a briney salinity, the wine coils and stretches along the palate. The interplay of acidity, fine lacey phenolics and great length of flavour is becoming a trademark of style for this wine. Beautifully positioned for drinking with delicate raw seafood.

Hand-picked, half whole bunch-pressed to used French puncheons for fermentation, the balance crushed into concrete tulip-shaped vessels before maturation in used French puncheons. The blend of components give rise to textured, layered citrus peel flavours sewn together by a shaft of glistening acidity.

I would imagine that a great deal of cross studies, comparative tastings and with that, cross-pollination has occurred via South Africa. The use of oak, the mineral reductive torque and aromas of cheese cloth, yellow to green plum and gritty sandy finish, reminiscent. Yet this is beautifully saline, mid-weighed and distinctly maritime, as if sucking on desert sand while chewing wild fennel. Very Vale. Increasingly fine. I feel that the textural mandala can be expanded even further. A journey worth following.