Savaterre Chardonnay 2021
Style: White Wine
Closure: Screwcap
Savaterre Chardonnay 2021
Camberwell
Burke Road
Camberwell VIC 3124
Australia
Producer: Savaterre
Country: Australia
Region: Beechworth
Vintage: 2021
Critic Score: 96
Alcohol: 13.5%
Size: 750 ml
Drink by: 2035
"The astonishingly individual, beautifully concentrated and al-dente structured Chardonnay is one of my favourite Victorian Chardonnays. Keppel Smith wines are brilliant." Andrew Caillard MW
The picturesque Savaterre vineyard sits across the road and in spitting distance from famed Beechworth producer Giaconda, on an elevated site 440m above sea level and takes in panoramic views across the King Valley. Like its illustrious neighbour, it produces one of Australia's greatest chardonnays. "The near-cinematic quality of this site is blindingly obvious. The potential of this place is limitless." Australian Sommelier magazine
"A top vintage, a quality maker and another strong argument for recognising Beechworth as one of Australia's leading chardonnay wine regions. A chardonnay of both power and elegance, persistence and concentration. A mineral laciness joins with stone fruits in pure white peach and nectarine, Meyer lemon, biscuit and spice to produce a honeyed, textural palate of well-defined chardonnay character. Oak is nicely melded to the whole. Tasted before release and exuding youthful energy, this is definitely going to be a keeper." Jeni Port
"Light straw with green Chartreuse tinges. The bouquet is a play between refinement and concentration. It slowly reveals itself over time. Complex , powerful and multi dimensional. It hints at the pent up power and energy. Initial glimpses of pear, white peach, preserved lemon, lime blossom, galangal, white flowers, grilled almond, subtle gun flint and exotic spices such as curry leaf, nutmeg and allspice in the background. All defined within a mineral framework. The palate confirms its pedigree. Power, complexity, minerality and incredible length interwoven seamlessly. Multiple hints of white peach, pear, preserved lemon, almond and spice are framed within a tight mineral frame. It finished with a long and ever-increasing complex finish. This is a long lived, powerful, complex wine that was born of a great season. Patience and cool cellaring will reward those who can resist consuming it young. If consuming under 5 years please decant for at least an hour for maximum enjoyment. Will continue to improve over the next 8 – 15 years." Savaterre
Expert reviews
""I don’t even know what the fucking clones are", says winemaker Keppel Smith. Cavin oak, which he imports, of which 30% is new. 2021 was a cool marginal year for this vineyard, he says, but the results are excellent, I say. Ripe grapefruit, preserved lemon with ginger and biscuit spices, a light amount of fennel. Lovely perfume to the wine. Bright and fresh, a gentle creamy almond gloss, light flintiness and matchstick, tight core of acidity, white nectarine, and some richer yellow fruit, but really pretty restrained. It flows along beautifully. It’s a great glass of Chardonnay. Drink: 2023 - 2031+." Gary Walsh, The Wine Front - 96 points
"This 2021 Chardonnay won't be released until March 2023 (consider this your pre-release look). The fruit is a field blend of clones in the vineyard (8,000 vines per hectare, planted in 1996) and is handpicked, whole-bunch pressed and fermented with wild yeast, then the wine matures in French oak for 18 months. The wine is frisky (of course, at this early stage) and shows its oak at this stage, but it is already flowing in a cascade of almond meal, crushed nuts, briny acidity and salted peach. Through the finish, the phenolics tighten up and pull the fruit into line, dragging it out to a long finish. It is lovely, complex and tense and will soften in time. Drink: 2023 - 2037." Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 95 points
"Wild ferment, 18 months maturation in Burgundian oak (30% new). A top vintage, a quality maker and another strong argument for recognising Beechworth as one of Australia's leading chardonnay wine regions. A chardonnay of both power and elegance, persistence and concentration. A mineral laciness joins with stone fruits in pure white peach and nectarine, Meyer lemon, biscuit and spice to produce a honeyed, textural palate of well-defined chardonnay character. Oak is nicely melded to the whole. Tasted before release and exuding youthful energy, this is definitely going to be a keeper. Drink by 2033." Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points
About the winery
The picturesque Savaterre vineyard lies nestled in the mountains of northeastern Victoria just outside the town of Beechworth. Situated across the road and in spitting distance from famed Beechworth producer Giaconda, it sits on an elevated site 440m above sea level and takes in panoramic views across the King Valley.
The site was purchased by Keppell Smith in 1996 after an extensive search across Australia’s wine regions. He believed the south facing slopes of the Beechworth hills, with their decomposing granite and clay soils, mild summer days and cool climate elevation, was the perfect 'terroir' to create great wines. He wondered why Beechworth, where such an icon of Australian wine in Giaconda was located, had so few vineyards. His take on his famous neighbour Rick Kinzbrunner was, "His was the first Australian wine with a European bent that I’d tasted – there was so much perfume, elegance, structure."
As to the Savaterre name, it is the name of Smith’s father’s property in Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, USA. A piece of 'low-lying swamp land', it is the complete antithesis to Keppell's Beechworth property!
Ex-policeman Keppell Smith spent a few years in the money markets before he decided to become a winemaker. During his search for the perfect vineyard, he worked with a number of key figures in the wine industry. Heavily influenced by his time with Phillip Jones at Bass Phillip, he promptly planted chardonnay and pinot noir at Savaterre. The vines were close planted at 7,500 vines per hectare, which allows the vine to carry a smaller crop and direct all its energies to producing intense flavours. The ancient granitic 'buckshot' soil is rich in minerals and provides excellent drainage, whilst the underlying decomposed clay provides water to the vines in summer. This ancient soil naturally limits the cropping level to less than 4.5 tons per hectare. Smith added shiraz on its own rootstock and planted at 8,000 vines per hectare to the vineyard in 2003. Today there are 8ha of chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz and sagrantino on the 40ha Savaterre property.
Savaterre's first vintage was in 2000, just two barrels of chardonnay. The potential of the vineyard became obvious very early on and was named in the top 25 vineyards in Australia in 2006 by Australian Sommelier magazine: "This, it has to be said, is a spectacular vineyard with spectacular potential, and as the 2002 wines show, that potential is sheeting through with a clarity that is shattering. And it’s the vineyard that is doing it. The south-facing slope that fronts into the teeth of the Victorian Alps, the ancient rocky soils, the high altitude, the warm summers and the cold, cold nights. This is a dramatic landscape and the truth is that the wines are all about that: the vineyard was only planted in 1997, all chardonnay and pinot noir, but the near-cinematic quality of this site is already blindingly obvious. The potential of this place is limitless."
Keppell looks more to the wines, winemaking and viticulture of the Old World as his inspiration, ranging from vineyard aspect through to the use of natural yeasts and the finest French barriques. His winemaking technique is a minimalistic, hands-off approach in the tradition of the fine wines of Burgundy. "It is all about the quality of the fruit from the fantastic site we have here at Savaterre. Minimal intervention and long, slow elevage in cool dark cellars are the cornerstones of our winemaking philosophy," he says.
In the winery Smith says he’s just babysitting, "I leave it alone, no yeast is added to the basket pressed juice. It is all up to wild yeast to start, maintain and finish the fermentation. I add sulphur, occasionally a little acid. The attention to detail is crucial; every 1% you muck up, it’s cumulative." The wines then undergo around 18 months ageing on the lees in custom-made French casks. The lees add a creaminess to the texture of the whites (they are not stirred) and for the reds he says, "lees really help the wood marry with the wine. It’s the gravy between the peas and the roast, the juice that brings it all together." The result is a range of wines with incredible purity, minerality and elegance.
Victoria
Victoria is home to more than 800 wineries across 21 wine regions. The regions are Alpine Valley, Beechworth, Bendigo, Geelong, Gippsland, Glenrowan, Goulburn Valley, Grampians, Heathcote, Henty, King Valley, Macedon Ranges, Mornington Peninsula, Murray Darling, Pyrenees, Rutherglen, Strathbogie Ranges, Sunbury, Swan Hill, Upper Goulburn and Yarra Valley.
Victoria's first vines were planted at Yering in the Yarra Valley in 1838. By 1868 over 3,000 acres had been planted in Victoria, establishing Victoria as the premier wine State of the day. Today, the original vineyards planted at Best's Wines are among the oldest and rarest pre-phylloxera plantings in the world.
Victoria's climate varies from hot and dry in the north to cool in the south and each wine region specialises in different varietals. For example, Rutherglen in the north is famous for its opulent Muscats and Topaque and bold reds, while the many cooler climate regions near Melbourne produce world class Chardonnay and pinot Noir. Victoria is truly a wine lover's playground.