Australia 10 whites
Australia 10 whites
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Australia's white wine scene is a hotbed of quality, and very much on the up. The country's foremost wine communicator, Huon Hooke surveys new and established wineries, large and small, to name his top estates. As published in the Decanter July 2012 issue.

Penfolds

Barossa Valley, South Australia

The Penfolds team, led by Peter Gago for the past decade, has put paid to the old cliché that Penfolds is strictly a red wine company. Yattarna is firmly enthroned as one of Australia’s greatest white wines and has spawned a growing series of fine and steadily improving Chardonnays such as the Bin 311. Yattarna is a pristine, refined, high-tensile style based on the scintillating fruit flavour of Derwent Valley, southern Tasmanian grapes, while Reserve Bin is all about funky winemaking and oak supporting slightly fuller Adelaide Hills fruit. There’s a bevy of other varieties at the Cellar Reserve, Koonunga Hill and Rawson’s Retreat levels (notably Koonunga Hill Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc), while back in the so-called Luxury range there’s the super-smart Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling, from old vines at High Eden.

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(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Penfolds, Yattarna Chardonnay 2009

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(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Very fine and clean aromas – it’s all about pristine fruit. The oak is not obvious, nor is winemaking overly funky, in contrast to the Reserve Bin Chardonnay. This has great delicacy and refinement, subtlety and purity of fruit. Finishes with tremendous line and length. 19pts/20

Price: £70–£85 Slurp, Treasury Wine Estates

Drink: 2012–2022

Alc: 12.9%

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Huon Hooke
Huon Hooke
Decanter Magazine, Wine & Food Writer

Huon Hooke is Australia’s leading independent wine writer, based in Sydney, who also judges wine competitions and educates on wine. A journalist first and wine professional second, he has tertiary qualifications in both fields, and has also worked in wineries and wine retailing. He contributes to Gourmet Traveller Wine, the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Good Food’ section, ‘Good Weekend’ magazine and Decanter, among other publications. He was co-author of The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide for 14 years until 2007. In 2012 he launched the web and phone based app, Huonhooke.com. He has won 11 awards for wine writing since 1984 and has published 19 books on wine, including a biography of Penfolds Grange creator Max Schubert.