2022 Shaw & Smith Lenswood Vineyard Chardonnay

The 2022 growing season, marked by the coolness and healthy rains of a La Niña year, imparted great intensity and high extract to this wine. Sourced from blocks three and four in the Lenswood Vineyard, first planted in 1999, this site features east and west-facing aspects at 500 meters above sea level, with brown loam over clay and broken shale and stone on the ridges.
The wine was gently whole-bunch pressed and fermented in 500-liter puncheons, with 30% new oak, undergoing full malo and spending 10 months in oak before resting in the tank prior to bottling.
Alc. 13.5%

Other Reviews....
An exceptional vintage for white wines. A lower pH, inherent freshness and phenolic bite, the artillery that delivers the impressive structural latticework necessary for further development. Really classy. Subdued aromas of cinnamon, sesame, quince, ginger and toasted hazelnut, with the barest hint of fruit. Better this way. The mid-weighted palate is pliant, nicely chewy and multilayered. The finish is exceptionally long, although I look forward to tasting again in another six or eight years after things unravel and meld. Stunning chardonnay, aligned with top-tier Chassagne and certainly among the finest tasted in recent memory. Drinkable now, but best from 2027. Screw cap.
97 Points
New Goodwin - JamesSuckling.com

This wine is a study in elegance. It has fruit, it’s not underdone, but the mouthwatering lilt of flavour running from start to finish is something to behold. It tastes off citrus, bran, stone fruits, crushed fennel, brine and ginger, a sweet-bready-woody character lingering throughout. But the carry of it, the long juicy length, the gradual reveal of florals; it’s beautifully done. Drink 2025 - 2032+
95+ Points
Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front