Canterbury Wines Phone 0398305278 or 0403020439 www.canterburywines.net
CHARDONNAY /2014 TOMBOY HILL REBELLION CHARDONNAY $34.50
REGION: BALLARAT, VICTORIA
Tomboy Hill is a tiny vineyard in Ballarat planted in 1984 by former schoolteacher Ian Watson. The vineyard is within viewing distance of the Eureka Rebellion site. The vineyard is planted in the Burgundian mode (1m x 1.2m grid and low-trellised) and is still, by necessity, hand-pruned, hand-sprayed and hand-picked. Ballarat's climatic similarities with Burgundy influence the mode of viticulture and wine-making, with only chardonnay and pinot noir being grown. In addition, fruit is sourced from vineyards owned by small growers in the Ballarat Goldfields district. These are located at Smythe's Creek, Rokewood Junction, Garibaldi Farm, Scotsburn and Coghill's Creek.
Single vineyard wines are produced in years in which the quality is sufficiently high. Tomboy Hill's second label is called "Rebellion". The chardonnay and pinot noir wines under this label are blends from all the vineyards.
The 2014 Rebellion chardonnay is a delicious wine. Deep straw coloured, the nose of melon, pear and peach is integrated seamlessly with French oak to produce a haunting fragrance. The palate is perfectly balanced and tightly focused; mouthfilling yet delicate at the same time, the natural acidity providing a mouthwatering finale and proclaiming its cool climate origins. A significant portion of the wine (35%) comes from the Tomboy Hill vineyard (no wine was produced in 2014 under ‘The Tomboy’ label), and I have no doubt that this is reflected in the quality of the wine.
“The sheer quality of all the wines that come from the tiny plantings of chardonnay and pinot noir blew me away and made me wonder, with global warming an almost certainty, if the Ballarat region will be Australia's answer to Burgundy in the coming years.” James Halliday
Drink Now to 2025.
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