Gralyn Estate Wildberry Springs Chardonnay 2010, Margaret River

Atrocious weather this bank holiday weekend. I’m sure even the most hardened republicans felt sorry for the royals and well wishers at the rain lashed Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.

Though Australian Chardonnay has long moved on from its “sunshine in a bottle” days, I must admit I found some comfort sampling Gralyn’s Chardonnay. It transported me to Margaret River, Western Australia (at a rather warmer time of year), when this cool as a cucumber single vineyard Chardy would have been just the ticket.

Made from early-picked fruit, it’s a finely honed, thirst quenching style. In fact, its sucking stones minerality reminded me of a scene from Wes Anderson’s latest whimsical film, Moonrise Kingdom. The young leads, one a khaki scout hot on survival skills, put pebbles in their mouths to relieve their thirst. Didn’t work but, trust me, this does! Here is my note:

Gralyn Estate Wildberry Springs Chardonnay 2010 (Margaret River)

Pale with green glints. A fresh, intense, grapefruity nose and palate with hints of lime, sourdough and cashew. Tight and bright, with a gravelly/sucking stones minerality, this is a taut, well-focused wine, with mouth watering, persistent acidity and a long, clean finish. The oak is very lightly worn – to inform structure, not flavour. Very good indeed. 12.4% abv.

Incidentally, Gralyn will not be present, but there’s a fine line up of Western Australian wines on show at the forthcoming Western Australia Day Tasting in London on 14 June – see my blog post here.