Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2008

James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2011 

"I’ve gone on record more times than I care to count saying the Leeuwin Art Series is Australia’s greatest chardonnay."  James Halliday

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay needs no introduction. It is an icon of Australian wine and is one of Langton's Heritage Five which celebrates Australia's most exceptional and ground-breaking wines - the other four being Penfolds Grange, Henschke Hill of Grace, Mount Mary Quintet and Wendouree Shiraz. It is often compared favourably with great White Burgundies. 

"This appears to be one of the most delicate and restrained of all Leeuwin Art Series chardies. Yet, in keeping with this famous block, there is depth and power of extraordinary intensity. The palate is woven into a tight lean thread moving with relentless precision to a very long finish. There's some minerally tightness and a bracing acidity that holds it all together. Destined for greatness."   Ray Jordan

The Art Series Chardonnay is sourced primarily from the 1976-planted Block 20 and supplemented with fruit from the 1978-planted Block 22. The quality of the vineyard is well recognised and remains the backbone of the Art Series Chardonnay. The vineyard blocks are planted to the Gingin clone on a series of rolling hills facing all directions. 

Expert reviews

"Although tasted a good 8 months before release this appears to be one of the most delicate and restrained of all Leeuwin Art Series chardies. Yet, in keeping with this famous block, there is depth and power of extraordinary intensity. The palate is woven into a tight lean thread moving with relentless precision to a very long finish. There's some minerally tightness and a bracing acidity that holds it all together. Destined for greatness."   Ray Jordan, 2011 WA Wine Guide – 98 points

“How good is the soon-to-be released 2008 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay? This is another great Leeuwin chardonnay of length, sophistication and poise. The fruit is superb and it has been brilliantly handled. To place it in perspective, at the moment the 2008 wine is just behind the six superstar Leeuwin chardonnays (the wines from ’82, ’87, ’95, ’01, ’02 and ’05) and as such it is clearly among the greatest 16 to 20 Australian chardonnays ever. Do you buy this for cellaring? The answer is a resounding yes. Those interested can try pre-release bottles at either of the Leeuwin Estate Roxy Music concerts at the weekend of February 19 – though the wine’s official release date will be closer to April.”   John Jens – 18.9 points out of 20

“The 2008 Art Series Chardonnay is not too much further evolved than the 2011, tasted alongside it. Interesting. This has more power and presence; it shows a baritone of power akin to the 2017, even though the vintage conditions were almost diametrically opposed. The marzipan and nougat come through strong through the finish, however the acidity shows no signs of slowing down. Momentous. Drink: 2022-2032."  Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 96 points (Tasted Jul 2022)

"Still pale quartz-green; the finesse of Art Series Chardonnay when it is young is every bit as enjoyable as is the complexity it gains after six or seven years in bottle (under screwcap), its future still assured. We know that bottles from the mid-1980s under cork can blow the brains out, although most are now a shadow of their former selves. What we don't really know is how long the wines such as this live and flourish under screwcap. Drink by: 2028."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 96 points  and Top 100 Wines of 2011 

"A significantly finer, leaner and more focused Art Series Chardonnay that retains much of its primary, youthful character. A slightly reserved bouquet of grapefruit, lime juice, ginger and cinnamon backed by suggestions of minerals, grilled nuts and waxiness steadily reveals more intensity and perfume. Surprisingly smooth and supple, it’s exceptionally long and fine, revealing a remarkable core of concentrated crunchy, freshly sliced fruit that slowly moves down the palate, finishing with brightness, brittleness, zesty acids, true emphasis and first-rate persistence. Drink 2016-2020."  Jeremy Oliver - 96 points

"Light to medium yellow, very youthful colour for its age. Lovely clean, pristine cashewnut and peach/stone-fruit aromas; fresh, pure, and has no feral diversions at all. Very intense and yet subtle, refined and beautifully modulated along the palate. Great line and harmony. Unlike many young Leeuwins, not at all oaky nor aiming to impress with bigness. Really blossoms on the back-palate and finish. Outstanding chardonnay."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 96 points

Awards

James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2011 

The winery

In 1969, Denis and Tricia Horgan purchased a farm and plumbing business in Margaret River that they would eventually transform into Leeuwin Estate, one of Australia's most iconic wineries. At the time they had little interest in wine or plumbing (they sold the business), but in 1972 they met legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Robert Mondavi, who wanted to purchase their farm to plant vineyards. The farm was not for sale, but with Mondavi acting as consultant and mentor, they planted vineyards with the dream of becoming a world-class producer of premium wine.

A nursery was planted in 1974, the vineyards were planted over a five-year period from 1975 and Leeuwin released its first commercial vintage in 1979. The Leeuwin Estate vineyards are planted to Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz, but it is the Chardonnay and to a lesser extent the Cabernet that are the stars of the portfolio. Langton's classifies Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay as 'Exceptional' and one of the Heritage Five which celebrates Australia's most iconic, exceptional and ground-breaking wines - the other four are Penfolds Grange, Henschke Hill of Grace, Mount Mary Quintet and Wendouree Shiraz.

Leeuwin Estate releases its wines under three labels, the Art Series, Prelude Vineyards and Siblings. The Art Series range was created in 1980 and features Australian artwork on the labels.

Denis and Tricia Horgan continue their involvement in Leeuwin Estate, but today it is their two eldest children, son Justin Horgan and daughter Simone Furlong, who run the business as joint chief executives. 

"I fell into the wine industry because Mondavi wanted to buy the land; I thank God that we didn't sell."  Denis Horgan

Art series labels

The Art Series range was created in 1980 and features Australian artwork on the labels.

"I had developed an interest in Australian art in the early days. During a trip to Europe I was invited to meet Baroness Philippine de Rothschild at the Chateau Mouton-Rothschild wine estate in Bordeaux. The winemaker showed me around the winery and art gallery before having lunch with the Baroness.

I was so impressed with the way art had been integrated into the business that I asked Baroness Philippine if she would mind if we used Australian Artwork on our labels. She thought that was a great idea and said, "Go ahead".

So we created the 'Art Series' range in 1980 to define our most opulent and age-worthy wines from each vintage.  The first label carried a painting of our region's famous 'Caves Road' by Robert Juniper. We now have over 150 paintings from Australia's leading contemporary artists in our collection. We display the original artworks in the winery art gallery."  Denis Horgan

The collection now comprises over 150 paintings and features artworks from artists including John Olsen, Arthur Boyd, Sir Sidney Nolan, Lloyd Rees, Albert Tucker, Fred Williams, Robert Juniper, Clifton Pugh and Imants Tillers. The only work not part of the Estate's own collection is Sir Arthur Streeton's Golden Summer, which was kindly offered by its then owner for use on a special Museum Release of the 1987 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon before moving to its new home at the National Gallery.

Many of the paintings and sculptures were specifically commissioned. Others were discovered in exhibitions around Australia and the artists approached for copyright permission to be reproduced as part of the label series. The first painting commissioned was of Caves Road by Robert Juniper for the 1980 Art Series Chardonnay. John Olsen was approached to paint the first artwork to be used on the Art Series Riesling. He responded with the creation of four works entitled “Frogs in Riesling”. These paintings were so irresistible that the decision was made to purchase all four and all have been used, in a random pattern, on Art Series Riesling labels ever since. This makes the Riesling unique, as for the labels of all other wines, a new work is commissioned each year.

Sir Sidney Nolan, when approached at the beginning of the series, advised he was not a graphic artist and did not paint for wine labels. He was also a red wine buff and was sent two unlabelled bottles of the 1982 Cabernet Sauvignon – one of Leeuwin's best vintages. He responded that for this wine he would happily provide a painting. This resulted in his Dolphin Rock appearing on the label.

With the high calibre of the artists consenting to appear on the labels, it is no longer a challenge convincing leading artists to be part of this collection. Eventually, as the collection builds, it is hoped to tour it in its own right. Some works have been lent from time to time but most are on display in the Leeuwin Estate Art Gallery.

The concerts

"As one of the world's most isolated wine regions, we wanted to be creative in generating reasons for visitors to come and discover Margaret River and our wines.

Our winery overlooks a meadow surrounded by a forest of tall karri trees, creating a beautiful natural amphitheatre. So in 1985 we wrote to the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, the local Ballet Company and the Opera Company inviting them to consider coming down and doing a concert. The idea of alfresco performances in the bush was extremely novel at the time and we didn't get much interest from any of them.

The then Director of The Festival of Perth, David Blenkinsopp, approached us about that time, asking if we would underwrite the visit to Australia of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, something that somewhat shocked us at the time, huge costs, logistics and all of that – no was the answer, unless they would be prepared to perform in our vineyard.

He went off to London to organise the tour and said he'd talk to the LPO and let me know. To my surprise he came back and said they'd love to perform at Leeuwin, as long as we underwrote the whole Australian tour. Trish thought I was mad, in fact everybody I know thought I was mad, but I said yes!

Funnily enough it was a bit like the wine, we didn't know that much about music and certainly nothing about being concert promoters, however we thought the London Philharmonic Orchestra was a pretty good 'band' to start our concerts with! They really might be worth the risk and we needed to generate a profile for our wine business in a creative way.

So 100+ members of The London Philharmonic Orchestra travelled all the way to Margaret River, we built a stage, did some creative things entertainment wise and all had a fantastic night. The concert was a sell-out; we even had to turn away 500. It made front page news, described as “The most extraordinary concert ever held in Australia."

Our wines were successfully launched nationally at functions held off the back of the concerts throughout Australia – it proved to be a highly successful promotion.

The impact of that first concert guaranteed the future success of our concerts. Whilst it cost a fortune in our underwriting of the total Australian tour it was a highly successful launch pad to promote Leeuwin Estate to all the right people at home and Eastern Australia.

That first Leeuwin Concert was so successful that we continued the relationship with the Festival of Perth for another two years, featuring other international orchestras. Then we thought that we needed to do something different and presented Ray Charles. The new format proved to be even more successful so we decided to stick to that format for a while – 32 years later we have presented an eclectic array of the world's leading musicians at Leeuwin, from Sting to James Taylor, Carole King and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa."  Denis Horgan

Text taken from Milton Wordley's article 'People of Wine', https://winetenquestions.com.au/