The Best Value Pinot & Chard Under $25? Hoddles Creek & Kumeu
Great Value Chardonnay & Pinot Mixed Dozen
RRP: $315 | Offer: $295!
Three each of the below wines!
Hoddles Creek
Yarra Valley, Victoria
"There's no other producer in the Yarra Valley to even come close to the value offered by this wine."
Halliday Wine Companion
Halliday Wine Companion
Located in the higher, cooler Upper Yarra, Hoddles Creek Estate was established in 1997 when the D'Anna family decided to establish a vineyard on the property that has been in the family since 1960. Its steeply sloping blocks prohibit mechanical harvesting - both vineyards being hand pruned and harvested. The Hoddles wines are grown on the estate's single vineyard, which is mostly planted to pinot and chardonnay. Led by the extremely hardworking winemaker Franco D’Anna, Hoddles Creek, along with their "negociant" label Wickhams Road, represent some of the best value chardonnay and pinot in the country. Put simply, there are very few we can think of making wines of this calibre at this price!
These wines are in stock and available for immediate dispatch!
Hoddles Creek Estate 2022 Chardonnay
RRP: $27 | Offer: $25!
"Cool(ish) year, small yields. This is the best HCE Chardonnay I can recall tasting. White peach, green pear, a little citrus, fine spicy oak, almond, discreet struck match. It’s tight, but has flavour, plenty of flinty and chalky texture, ripe lemon and lemon peel, almond biscotti and green olive, firm crunch of pure acidity, and a long and racy finish that so mouth-watering and zesty. My word." 95pts - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Hoddles Creek Estate 2022 Pinot Noir
RRP: $27 | Offer: $25!
"Cherry, plum, baking spice, a little more earthy – more bass than treble here – some vanilla, thyme and mint in the mix too. It’s full of juicy red and black fruited flavour, a slight orange peel amaro twist through it, a pleasing amount of grainy/silty tannin, kind of autumnal too, a little rhubarb and spice, with a juicy and sappy finish of excellent length. Lots of flavour and a good amount of chewy texture. It’s balance of finesse and bouncy Pinot character should pretty much satisfy every drinker." 93pts - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Wickhams Road 2021 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir
RRP: $24 | Offer: $20!
"Like its siblings, a light but brilliantly clear colour. A highly perfumed bouquet of strawberries leads into a palate with the precision and clarity of a Dutch painter 300 or so years ago. There's no other producer in the Yarra Valley to even come close to the value offered by this wine." 95pts - Halliday Wine Companion
It’s looking like a good vintage in many places.Fine bones, but with flavour. Strawberry, raspberry, some spice and dried rose perfume. Medium-bodied, crisp and bright, has a bit of a sap and semi-dried tomato flavour in the mix, fine chalky tannin, and a finish of good definition and solid length. Still pretty young as at now, and I suspect it has more to offer. Lovely." 91pts - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Kumeu River
Auckland, New Zealand
"Kumeu River somehow manages to make some of not just New Zealand’s but the world’s finest Chardonnay from vineyards in the Auckland suburbs."
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
This estate and this family continue to amaze us with their wines! In my Roseworthy wine study days, Michael Brajkovich was a legend, spoken about as a great guy, super smart and someone who finished his degree with a perfect score. On top on this obvious intelligence and wisdom, there is also an incredibly hard-working family and some really superb vineyards. This all translates into scintillating chardonnays that should be in every cellar.
Cheers, Randall.
Cheers, Randall.
Kumeu River 2022 Village Chardonnay
Offer: $25 | In a 6-Pack: $20!
This amazing chardonnay is fermented 40% in old French oak barriques, and 60% in stainless steel tanks so there is very little oak influence on either nose or palate, rather the extra complexity barrel-fermentation can bring and the purity and vibrancy that a tank-aged wine can supply. The vibrant fruit with generosity AND complexity shows through beautifully, and as the Kumeu family say; "with lively lime and lemon aromas and a flinty, mineral edginess with hints of fig and white peach.
Cheers - Randall, Jeff, Rose & Nick