JM 1ST APPROACH

Clonale has hit the big time! Auditioned next to Pierro Chardonnay 09 for inclusion this week and Clonale got the gig – it’s a better wine! Ooh, aah! Ricocheting with grapefruit, fig and persimmon exoticity, nuanced with smoked ham, pulling into a clean-crafted finish. Rating: 94 points Tyson Tselzer

Vibrant pale straw colour with a tinge of green. Subtle aromas of grapefruit, white peach, and orange blossom. Grapefruit mingling with lemon barley, brioche, and honeydew melon flavours. The palate mixes a thickness of texture with crisp acidity. Lemon zest, nectarine and a distinctly savory, almost salty cracker, type of flavour. There's plenty of things to like here, it's not too austere, oak is subtle and toned down, it's mid-weight yet of full flavour and there's a long tight flinty finish. Wheaty complexity too. . This is a lovely drinking wine. Rated : 93 Points Winefront.com.au

..we believe we've created the Jessica Rabbit of chardonnays. This fantastically yummy wine has a luscious, heavily perfumed nose, zesty citrus tang, and a rich palate glittering with golden oak. It’s a dazzling, warm, lemon-lime tart in a crisp walnut crust with lashings of cream. Be seduced!

Franco d’Anna is a highly skilled and intuitive winemaker, in touch with the grapes from the moment they are formed, then picked, pressed and fermented and French oak matured. You either get the purity, balance and finesse of this wine, or you don’t.  James Halliday

I suspect that the mantle for “Australia’s Best Value White Wine” has been settled for the time being. What a sensation. ... Long, complex, giving and finessed to perfection. Meal, nectarine, and lime flavour before a spicy, slatey, stony finish. Hoddles Creek Estate is no longer a “new” story so there’s no call for surprise, but this still managed to bowl me over.  ... 95+ points WInefront.com.au