Wine with Meg + Mel
The fun + frank podcast which helps you navigate the world of wine. Hosted by Australia's first female Master of Wine Meg Brodtmann, and self-titled Master of Sabrage Mel Gilcrist.
Wine with Meg + Mel
Mel's conspiracy theory about Margaret River Chardonnay
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Mel tests her theory that Margaret River Chardonnay producers are abandoning their signature big, buttery style for leaner expressions through a tasting of four wines across different price points.
• Meg Brotman argues that Margaret River has traditionally delivered reliable, high-quality big Chardonnays with texture and weight
• Meg describes Margaret River Chardonnay as having a fuller style with riper fruit, moderate acidity, and more evident oak compared to cooler regions
• The $18 Aldi Blackstone Limited Release proves to be an excellent baseline, showing classic regional character with grapefruit, oatmeal notes, and creamy texture
• Leeuwin Estate Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay ($40.90) delivers a seamless, beautiful expression that supports Margaret River's traditional style
• Xanadu Chardonnay shows structural issues, with richness around the edges but lacking mid-palate depth
• Forrester Chardonnay impresses both hosts, further disproving the theory that Margaret River is abandoning its signature style
• The panel concludes that while some producers may be experimenting with leaner styles, Margaret River's distinct Chardonnay identity remains intact
Join us next week as we explore the Italian variety Barbera and whether it lives up to its trendy reputation.
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Meg's Chardonnay Conspiracy Theory
Speaker 1Hi and welcome to Mind With Megan Bell. We're here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Meg O'Kristian, I'm a master of wine, Meg Brotman, and Meg has told me that I'm introducing this episode because, in your words, I'm the conspiracy theorist. You are yeah, okay, so I haven't given enough thought, haven't you, I know? Yes, okay, meg thinks it's a conspiracy. I will call it a hypothesis. It's a little bit shirty about it. Okay, yeah, it is. It's more like a how dare they?
Speaker 1how very dare they? It is a bit like that hey, okay. So I think that I, no, I just love a big Chardonnay and I love that I could always rely on a Margaret River producer to have a big, bold, buttery, delicious Chardonnay, but not one that's like cheap oak or anything like a really good, high-quality big Chardonnay, but not one that's like cheap oak or anything like a really good, high quality big Chardonnay. And it just feels like Margaret River has started going down this path, like they've become self-conscious about their big Chardonnay and it's like they're trying to become less like that and they're trying to be more acidic and less oaky, and I just don't like that direction for them. I really like that. They're one thing and my hypothesis is that they are something different. So Meg has bought four Chardonnays, three of the most famous, and we're going to taste them. Yeah, and see, are they? And I've got, would you taste them? And go oh, margaret River, okay, that's my question.
Speaker 2Okay, fair, yes.
Speaker 1Okay, we'll let you get to all of your thoughts soon, but first, what have you been drinking?
Speaker 2So I had a 2023 Savile Estate Pinot Noir, which I was telling you about before, from the Yarra Valley, dylan McMahon, mm-hmm. Pretty young winemaker. His dad started it, mm-hmm. Gladys Dale. So it was Savile. It's a really upper Yarra cool and it was just extraordinary. Yeah, it is the perfect picture of Upper Yarra Pin and Well, with that gorgeous perfume I could have. It was at a tasting and I honestly it was sort of 11 o'clock in the morning. I could have happily sat down there and just told everyone to go away. I was just going to sit there and drink the bottle which, you know, at 11 o'clock in the morning, I could have happily sat down there and just told everyone to go away. I was just going to sit there and drink the bottle which, you know, at 11 o'clock in the morning is quite rare.
Speaker 1Yeah, is this current vintage? Probably there it is. Which one Estate? Pinot Noir? Yeah, this is estate, so $60.
Speaker 2Yes, yeah, absolutely delicious, well done.
Speaker 1Wow, delicious, well done. Wow, all right, all right, I have new owners now and I don't know who's actually making the wine anymore but the 2021 is really worthwhile. It sounds like okay. Uh, do you have a fun fact?
Speaker 2I do you know how wine is made in every 50 state in america? Yeah, in utah it's illegal to actually swallow the wine, apparently in the tastings. Now I don't believe, I can't believe that they can even do that. Oh my God, I know Utah's the Mormon place, yeah, mm-hmm. Does that mean they can sell alcohol but you can't drink it, or just the Mormons can't drink it? If I went into a winery and tasted the wine, they'd go no, you have to spit that out.
Speaker 1No, they would. So not Surely they'd have tasting, but they'd turn a blind eye. Surely they'd turn a blind eye.
Speaker 2I don't know. They're pretty strict, the Mormons, aren't they? About drinking and having fun.
Speaker 1I don't know, but I did gobble up the season of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and I can tell you that while most of them are pretty strict, some of them do drink, but the ones that don't drink? Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, it's a reality TV show. It is very good. Austin is nodding.
Speaker 2Does someone get pregnant?
Speaker 1They're all pregnant all the time. Oh, okay, so there was drama. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. So here's what happened. So it starts off with like one mom and chicken. She's like we're doing TikToks and they become really big on TikTok and they call it mom talk. And then it comes out that all of the people in this mom talk group are supposed to be these like mormon, like really religious, really goody people. They're all having like little orgy things with each other's partners and stuff. Right, that's what comes out. And so then that she came out and told everyone that it was happening and then her and her husband got a divorce. Oh, it's great TV. Well, I don't know, they did. So. It seems like they're part of a Mormon church, but they, like I don't know they do they adhere to a certain point. These people, they all look the same. It's really interesting. They have a lot of babies, they're like these perfect mums, but then all this crazy stuff goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2Well, clearly I don't know if it's true now, because clearly the Mormon people are actually drinking.
Speaker 1Summer, summer.
Speaker 2Anyway, I just thought that was an interesting little fun fact.
Speaker 1Yeah well, so in the same way that you can take any conversation to politics, I can take any conversation to be reality TV, and I actually know what you're talking about, because I haven't seen Mavs, but I've seen that one. You've seen the reality TV show?
Speaker 2I've seen an episode of it and then clearly gone. This trash is not for me.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, it was for me. Duggins the Doogins. Oh, I didn't watch that, but that one's interesting. They have like 10 kids.
Speaker 2Yeah, but there's pedophiles in there. Yeah, it's bad, they're homeschooled. Yeah, elegations of rights. It's just really shocking actually.
Speaker 1Anyway, austin sits there and he's like you can see, when he sees something that he's like oh, this is interesting. I'm going to jot this down for social media. He's been sitting with his pen nowhere near the page, being like what the hell are they talking about? Okay, let's talk about one. So yeah, I don't know. Do you have what's your take? What do you think we're going to get here?
Speaker 2I would disagree that. Margaret River is about big buttery Chardonnays. Margaret River is about a fuller style with riper fruit, more towards the melon profile. But because of the gin-gin clone, you always, I think, have that grapefruit yeah pithiness that runs through margaret river chardonnay all the time. Yes, it is definitely a bigger body than anything about a yarra valley or a cooler climate.
Speaker 2Remember it's a maritime climate, so you know it's pretty warm yeah um, the acidity is much more moderate than you have in cooler climates and it does tend to have more evident oak. It is more. You told me you can't use voluptuous, because you know that's a terrible term.
Speaker 1I don't mind it.
Speaker 2It is more, it's a meteor. Yeah, and you have a theory that they're starting to trim some of the fat finger?
Speaker 1I do. My theory is that Margaret River Chardonnay is now looking too similar to Chardonnay from the rest of Australia.
Speaker 2I remember we did do a tasting online.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2Cassandra Charlie. Yes yes, and some of them, I did agree, looking more solidy mineral.
Speaker 1yarra valley did not have that expressiveness and just this is the exact same thing that I went to wines of california tasting recently and every producer was falling over themselves to tell me like, oh, this isn't what you expect from California, this is. You know, we don't do all that, we don't do this. And they're giving me stuff and they're like this is more Chablis style, like that's what we want, and I don't know, like I think that we can have Chardonnay that's big and buttery and beautiful, just make it good, you know which and that Margaret River can do that.
Speaker 2And I don't like this trend away from that, but my argument would be that's a stylistic choice, and you're saying it doesn't taste like Margaret River. So is Margaret River just all about winemaking?
Post-Tasting Drinks and Mormon Wives
Speaker 1Well, yeah, I don't know, Does it yeah, no, no, no, because yeah, so they're warmer, so they're riper. Grapes, inherently, are more set up for winemaking, right, like, yeah, they can support it. So it's like we couldn't do it in the year. If we wanted to make those styles, we couldn't, we couldn't do it as successfully, but they can. So please do it, because I, the Yarra, if we wanted to make those styles, we couldn't do it as successfully, but they can. So please do it because I love it.
Speaker 2All right, so we're starting with Blackstone limited release Chardonnay from of all places Aldi $18. The reason being is, when we did our Aldi episode for the Cozy Lives episode before Christmas, every time we talked about the one we said that's exactly what it says on the bottle, yeah, so I thought I'd get this as your standard bearer of Margaret River Chardonnay. Now, I've actually previously had this wine, so I knew what it was like Do you agree that it's.
Speaker 1It's what it says on the bottle. This is Margaret River Chardonnay. Thank you, this is it. This is your control. This is it. This is your control. This is it's almost. It's impressive that that's what Aldi is Like. If you're studying Wesset, you should just go get one of everything from Aldi, like they just get. Yeah.
Speaker 2So it's got. There's a bit of a I see the ginger Mm-hmm Sort of a ginger spice and some grapefruit Pithiness in the nose, but there's also like a bit of an oatmeal, almost Anzac cookie character.
Speaker 1Yeah, but it's smooth. It's got this beautiful mouthfeel, this almost creamy mouthfeel that I beg, of Chardonnay. It is incredible I'm going to go buy a bunch of Chardonnay. It is incredible I'm going to go buy a bunch of that for $18. That is crazy.
Speaker 2It's just grapefruit grapefruit, grapefruit, grapefruit, grapefruit juice. It's beautiful with that lovely oak sitting.
Speaker 1Yeah, but like when you say grapefruit, like that I don't want people to think of, because if someone Yucky, grapefruit, no. When someone says grapefruit to me, I think of Savion Blanc from New Zealand. Oh no, no, no, this is pink grapefruit, but also it's big and it's bold and it's beautiful. With grapefruit it's balanced. It sounds so much better.
Speaker 2Pumplemousse.
Speaker 1Pumplemousse.
Speaker 2Isn't that the best word ever?
Speaker 1Yeah, it's ridiculous Pumplemousse.
Speaker 2P. Yeah, it's ridiculous Pomplenish the grapefruit, Pomplenish and it's more. It's not that sour grapefruit. You know, back in the 80s, if you're on a diet and you jade Fonda and you had a half grapefruit for breakfast, this has got a. It's that pink grapefruit, the pink grapefruit. You know that mineral water. You can buy a flavour of mineral water. Yeah, Like that.
Speaker 1It is so funny that you and I are drawn to two different aspects of this. We both love it, but I'm here going yeah, this is the oak I want, this is the weight I want, this is the texture I want in Chardonnay, and you're there going. I love the citrus and the acid.
Speaker 2It's like we're tasting the same thing, but two completely different parts of what's standing out to us both. I like the oak, but I like to see what the grape's doing in the wine. You know, necessarily one make a blur, whatever, but I like to see what the fruit's doing. I mean, the acid's really nice. I suspect there's probably a little bit of acid there.
Speaker 1Yeah, but it's not obvious. It's lovely, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2I suspect they have because I can see it. I suspect they have. Because I can see it, I suspect they have because it's higher than I would have normally.
Speaker 1It's so well integrated. That's great. That's a good wine and I'm just looking for like a cheese souffle or something.
Speaker 2Yeah, what's a souffle?
Speaker 1You know the thing that stands up, it's all egg white and it rises up really high, oh, I would have seen people, oh yes, egg white. And it rises up really high, oh, I would have seen people, oh, yes, oh, like that's a dessert, isn't it?
Speaker 2A cheese one if you get a chance.
Speaker 1Oh, they make it on MasterChef. It's always like really high stakes when they make it on MasterChef.
Speaker 2Reality.
Speaker 1TV. Oh, you're going to make me one. Okay, it's so good.
Speaker 2Again, we're progressing and talking about food.
Speaker 1Great baseline this. I would taste this and go Margaritva If you gave that to me, blind and said what region is this from? I would say Margaritva. So once again, thank you, aldi, for baselining.
Speaker 2So Lumen Estate 2021 Chardonnay, I bought all around the $35 mark because that's where it should $35 to $40.
Speaker 1No, $35 is the perfect price range, I think. Because that's what, if I was playing for a Friday night or I just wanted a nice bottle, that's what I'd buy. Yeah, and if you wanted, to show off.
Speaker 2You know the region you're not going to buy a $30.
Speaker 1Although.
Speaker 2Aldi. So Leuven State Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay 2023. That smells so good. Leuven State one of probably the most famous Chardonnays.
Speaker 1How do you say it? Because there's a U in between the Lee and the Wyn. Is it Lewin Leeuwen Leeuwen.
Speaker 2I think it's Lewin.
Speaker 1It Lewin, lewin, lewin. I think it's Lewin, it's Lewin. Yeah, but it's probably because it's in English Lewin.
Speaker 2Lew, lew, lewin, come here, gaffer.
Speaker 1What the hell just happened. What was that? What did you do? Is that your South African accent? Wow, we have been graced with something special.
Speaker 2What was I saying? I think the South African I'm sure is it them or Voyager State that's got the big sort of white building in Margaret River.
Speaker 1Voyager is a big. It's got all the. I don't know they're both. No, lewin has the big white building.
Speaker 2Yes, so it's based on like a Cape architecture in South.
Speaker 1Africa. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, voyager has all the beautiful florals.
Speaker 2Right, oh, we can hear little Billie, she's loving it. Okay, so 2023,.
Speaker 1Charlotte, sorry, the wines of California tasting. Someone came up to me and was like, oh my God, you know I listen to the podcast. I was like, oh hey. And then they were like, is this Billie? Like she was a celebrity, like they were so excited to meet Billie because they've heard her voice.
Speaker 2The podcast is not adorable. It's adorable. What's Cara's? What did Cara have?
Speaker 1Cara, little boy, and name Charlie. I don't. Can I say that, hopefully, kidding. Oh, are you kidding? He's beautiful, he's a little gorgeous little thing. This is our problem on the podcast, which we probably shouldn't do.
Speaker 2Well, it was Lou in a state. Shut up, what are you?
Speaker 1doing. I was just going to say that the tasting went really well. We took our babies and it went really well. I actually wasn't sure, if the wine industry, how they'd react.
Speaker 2You've got enough kudos between you and Karen.
Speaker 1Yeah, well, to be fair, yeah, well, they were all Australian distilleries, anyway, okay, no, we digress.
Margaret River Chardonnay Characteristics
Speaker 2Okay, so we have One of the Lewin, cullen, vass, felix, xanadu are probably the most famous from Margaret River, so I have suspected this will be supporting your theory that Margaret River's moving away to a leaner style, as you said.
Speaker 1No, I don't know about that. Nah. Nah, my God, this is good. Nah, the arrow's not making anything like this. Oh, my God, that's good.
Speaker 2I couldn't buy every Margaret River wine because the episode would run forever. Yeah, I know, oh, it's so good how much was that they're all around $35 to $40, so it would run forever. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1Oh, he's so good. How much was that? They're all around $35 to $40. Oh my God, you know me, yum, because I'm doing what I want. Yeah, but in your head don't you downgrade what they are. Do we need to add $20 to everything that you sell?
Speaker 2No, no, because this was specifically done with a price point in mind when I'm buying for myself, you know just too bad.
Speaker 1So sad, dan. What do you think, mama? Mama, there's like it's the mouthfeel, it's the texture, it's the weight. That's what I want from Margaret River. It's the weight, this was $40.90.
Speaker 2So within my, that's beautiful, it is beautiful. I don't see as much grapefruit in that, though I do see a bit more minerality in this one.
Speaker 1I do too. No, that passes the Margaret River check for me. I go, margaret River check I could. I wouldn't definitely say Margaret River, not as much as the Aldi one, but I am so happy to put that in the Margaritva category of yep, that's a Margaritva Chardonnay for me.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1Well, let's next go Xanadu. Oh, it's a feeling to wander, oh no, that's a different.
Speaker 2That's a good musical, xanadu. Yeah, this was 3610. Thank you, we have the very kind Austin Poirot for us today, mr Sommelier.
Speaker 1What do we do to deserve Austin in our lives? All right, how did we ever do this without him? With those stupid rings, what, what rings, and anyway, what rings, what rings.
Speaker 2And anyway, Is that a do 2021? Three, these are quite cold. So some of them were accidentally in the freezer.
Speaker 1At this tasting as well. There was one place I went to and I tasted their Chardonnay and I was like it's so cold. And I don't know how much of a wanker I will sound like if I tell them it's too cold, you should take it off us. And I did. In the end I was like I think you should take this off the ice. They were grateful.
Speaker 2Coming from a woman that made us at Rob Donnell.
Speaker 1I made you buy a Chardonnay fridge.
Speaker 2So the Chardonnay was at what? Oh it was so low.
Speaker 1No. So originally the Chardonnay was in the same fridge as the sparkling, which was set to like eight degrees, and I was serving tastes of Chardonnay at eight degrees and I was like this can't do it. So no, we set it to exactly 30 in the Chardonnay fridge. Anyone who has tasted Chardonnay at Rob Dolan since you can thank me for the perfect temperature.
Speaker 2Yes, to be fair, only the higher end labels. So $30, well, $35 in a bar, Everything at Rob Dolan's $30 a month, not with the Vixies anymore, anyway. Anyway, richer style, oak, oakier, but somehow simpler yes, I was trying to articulate it.
Speaker 1It's richer but it finishes kind of short.
Speaker 2So when you got it in your mouth, you kind of you feel that richness and you feel the oak. So maybe oak is not like is lean.
Speaker 1Thank you, but I don't think it has to be a bad thing. I don't think it has to be a bad thing. Leanness for me can be fantastic.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's a little bit doughnut-y, it's sort of got a bit of a hole in the middle of the wine.
Speaker 1The acid isn't holding everything up. For me, the lewin, the acid was like a wall in which all the oak was built around and there was this beautiful structure and it all held together beautifully. This doesn't have that wall holding it up, holding everything together, and so it falls a bit flat all of the richness and all of the oak yeah, it's a bit, um, like a minecraft block, so it's kind of got nothing in it.
Speaker 2It it's all edge and no middle, if that makes sense. Yeah, so when you want it in your palate it's all around the edges, but there's just something lacking in the middle of the wine. It's nice, it's got that sort of grapefruit character, a little bit of creaminess, but it's $36.10. If you've got another $4, go for it. That was a seamless wine.
Speaker 1I mean, yeah, it was nice. I'm sorry this wasn't I don't know. Just like, considering they're in the same price range generally, this isn't standing up to Lewin for me.
Speaker 2Well, maybe again it's that.
Speaker 1But it is more grapefruit A low effect of a really good wine. No wait, let's stop talking about is it good, is it bad? That's not the question. Is it Margaret River? Would you taste that in a blind tasting and say Margaret River, maybe not, I wouldn't no.
Speaker 2No, it could be anywhere. Wine, yep, yeah, it is held together by the oak.
Speaker 1This one yeah. But it kind of goes against your. It does go against my contention. Yes.
Speaker 2Now it has become a leaner style of wine.
Speaker 1Because there's oak in this, I'm losing.
Speaker 2No, but the thing is is potentially the fruit has been picked at less ripeness to make a leaner style, but they haven't quite got the oak regime in that, because I know when the Yarra was switching we only ever knew one oak hit it hard. You know regime. And so this is maybe they haven't got the oak right. 23 was, was 23, the really bad year in Margaret River.
Speaker 1I don't know. You're looking at us. You're the master of wine in the room.
Speaker 2And it almost got decimated. It was like one of my fun facts. It's not really fun.
Speaker 1Yeah, that is not fun. I'm just looking it up, which you can do Chat jippity? Oh God, I don't know, I'm out.
Speaker 2Oh, they always say excellent. It was an excellent year in 2023, according to Margaret, with wine, but a cool year Anyway.
Speaker 1Not necessarily Margaret River, but not for the reason, but, yes, yes, not for the reason. It's not supporting my hypothesis or, as you would say, it's not supporting my conspiracy theory. Okay, chatgbt says the 2023 vintage Margaret River was not only good, it was exceptional. Okay, winemakers and critics alike have praised it as one of the best in recent years.
Speaker 2So the next one we have is a 2024 Forrester Chardonnay. Now experience Forrester does do these bigger styles. I was hoping the Xanadu was going to prove your theory.
Speaker 1I am. I can't tell you how happy I am that my theory is being proved wrong. To be perfectly honest, we had recently that stuff, it was all that. It was everything that we did at that tasting together.
Speaker 2Okay, well, I couldn't get those wines because they're all a bit she-she and small producers.
Speaker 1So maybe it's a small producer thing.
Speaker 2Maybe it is the cooler kids on the block, Although I'm pretty sure wasn't there. Um, thank you. Wasn't there a Howard Park in there?
Speaker 1There was.
Speaker 2Alright, so maybe we'll do it again. Yeah, Using the Aldi one as our standard beerer or the Lewin, and do the producers that we tasted in that tasting, because I agree with you that they were leaner, but wasn't that all?
First Taste: Aldi's Blackstone Control
Speaker 1about soils. What was her name at Chardonnay Symposium? Virginia Wilcox. Virginia Wilcox, remember, I spoke to her about it and she said to me, because you're podcasters, you're getting sent the most recent vintage straight away. And she said that wine from Margaret River needs time to develop and open up in bottle and she thinks that we were drinking them too soon and maybe that tasting. We got sent all new vintage.
Speaker 2I'm thinking that's a little bit of hmm, no. We've been drinking Margaret River Chardonnay longer than we've been doing the podcast.
Speaker 1Yeah, do you know what I mean? I do know what you mean. I just came up with that theory after that specific episode.
Speaker 2She gave you shit for asking some question.
Speaker 1No, I just didn't want to run into her. I was just like I asked this question about oh no, she's fantastic, I'm obsessed with her. Are you kidding? She's so cool. I just couldn't believe that I asked this question about Marguerite of Chardonnay and then she shows up on the bus afterwards and I'm like I have to sit next to this woman on my home. You'll be happy with that one, will I?
Speaker 2Okay, I'm sorry, mel, I picked the biggest names out of our biggest retailer and conspiracy theories. You should go and work for the Trump government. They're all proven incorrect.
Speaker 1I have never been more happy to be wrong in my entire life. That is delicious and I am so glad it exists.
Speaker 2Okay, this was.
Speaker 1What was it? Yeah, what am I drinking? Forrester, forrester, these wines are fantastic. Okay, I'm wrong. I put up my hands. I'm wrong. 520. Margaret River is everything I want it to be, and maybe it was just a one tasting that threw me the thing that we did was to showcase, maybe, different stuff, a different style.
Speaker 2Yeah, okay, but it would be interesting to revisit them, those exact wines that we tasted against we could use, like Lewin, or even that Forrester, as you know, or even the Aldi, as a sort of control. Yeah, because I agree in that tasting. Yes, they were Right, thank you. And it's like I didn't then say, oh, the whole Morn for Mata River is coming, I just went.
Speaker 1I guess I did.
Speaker 2Clearly, that's why we're sitting here.
Speaker 1We're going to one year later. Well, I just like Take her message. I okay. No, can I go a little bit deeper? I think that I love that Australia is has more diversity than Europe. However, I think we can learn from Europe and I think it's really good that you know what to expect when you get something from each region in Europe, and I don't want us to lose that. I love that. If you get something from Yarra Valley, we've spent time, we know what works, we know what's great and you're not going to know exactly what you're going to get, but you know that likely, if you get it from the Yarra Valley, it's not going to be too much oak, it's going to be kind of mineral, you know, and I love that. If I feel like that, I will buy something from Yarra Valley. And if I feel like bigger, I don't have to know every freaking producer in Australia to know that I just want bigger. So I'm going to go to Margaret River.
Speaker 2Very true to know that I just want bigger. So I'm going to go to Margaret River, very true. So yeah, burgundy, particularly, is producer-driven. Unless you know the producer, you're spending $60, you're getting shit. Yeah, that said, you know winemakers, they've got egos. Yeah see, I'm marketing-driven, I'm consumer brain and so winemakers will always love to flex their muscles a little bit and put their little stamp on the wine. That's not to say that they can't keep the standard classic and then have a play around. There's no innovation.
Speaker 1Well, no, actually that's fair. No, no, no, no, that's fair. I love this actually.
Speaker 2So do your Coke and then do you coke zero, yeah I like that.
Speaker 1Oh my god, I'm a great man and I don't drink. Subject she she pulled coke. I had coke zero on my fridge and she literally just looked at him and took it out and filled all my fridge with wine and I was like somewhere wow, what if I wanted my Coke Zero, cold Meg?
Speaker 2She didn't bing twice, she said to me do you want a Coke, I'm like no, I needed somewhere to put the wine and I think that was your Forrester wine that you just really liked Anyway. So yeah, take home message. I don't think there are probably a few producers who are playing around with a different style and you just happen to get caught up in the tasting of all of them. I think Margaret River is still producing some amazing Chardonnay from the $35 to $40.
Leeuwin Estate's Classic Expression
Speaker 1I think that Margaret River could be the most distinctive Chardonnay in the country and I just want to see it stay that way because I love it so much. This comes from a place of love Like, and I just want, wanted to stay that way. So, no, I'm happy. After this tasting Question, do you think that between every other significant Chardonnay region in the country you could choose? If you tasted blind and I'm not going to make you do it, I'm just saying do you think that there is a real sense of place when it comes to chardonnay outside of Margrova in this country?
Speaker 2I think I forget Yarra Beechworth.
Speaker 1Yeah, beechworth has something special. Yeah, margs, what's Tassie doing with chard? Nothing distinctive.
Speaker 2Look, they're good.
Speaker 1Maybe we should do an episode on that.
Speaker 2Yeah, didn't we do an episode on that?
Speaker 1I don't know.
Speaker 2Tasty Shard. Well, maybe we should do one from each and taste them both Maybe. Adelaide Hills.
Speaker 1I feel like we need to do five from each region to get Adelaide Hills is a bit tough.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's a bit tough.
Speaker 1Yeah, adelaide Hills would taste like Yar. I'm going to jump in because that was a really good question. Austin, our mate who's doing our videos, just asked a really good question because Meg mentioned the halo effect before. Meg, can you just re-explain what you mean by halo effect?
Speaker 2So you all had it. You had a really great wine and then someone opens up some shit and then you taste it and it tastes like even crappier than it does. And this happens in wine shows. So you may have a wine that's going to end up winning the wine show, and then you taste a wine that's barely going to make a bronze, and so you you're judging it. There's a halo effect. You were judging it almost in comparison to the wine beforehand. So what we do to reduce that is, say I've got 35 wines, we'll get some judges on the panel to judge 1 to 35, some to judge 35 to 1, some to judge 17 to 1, and then 18 to 35, some to judge 35 to 18, 17 to 1, just to try and reduce that risk, because it happens, we all know that it does, and often you see young associate judges who haven't had a lot of experience.
Speaker 2They will suddenly put up these great wines that we've all given, like you know, 83 to, because they've obviously had a really bad wine and then they've tasted something that, in comparison, they think is fantastic. So they're not able to that halo and it goes both ways Good and bad.
Speaker 1It's good having a voice of the people here A voice of the people A voice of the people. It's like we have a little producer or something sitting in the corner. We have a common man, a man of four seasons. All right, I feel like we've wrapped that up pretty well, though. Great Chardonnay, what was your favourite, meg? If someone's going to pick a Chardonnay to have this weekend, what should they pick and what should they eat with it? That bloody Louis, oh God it was good.
Speaker 2But if your budget's tight, which at this time of the year, heading into financials and electricity prices and gas prices are going through the roof and you're starting to put your heating on, Aldi. Yeah the Aldi, yeah, 18 bucks. That was Lewin is just. It's seamless, it's timeless, it's classic. It says what is on the bottom. Yeah, it's beautiful, it's a brilliant company. So Classic, it says what is on the bottom yeah, it's beautiful, it's a brilliant company. So, yeah, lewin would be my take home for $40.
Speaker 1Yeah, but to be honest, any of them, they were great. Chardonnays Cool, happy to be proven wrong with this episode. Next week we are doing Barbera, barbera, yeah.
Speaker 2Interesting. It's not really a known great variety, but I've got a lot of wines and I have absolutely no idea what they're going to be like.
Speaker 1Do you know what? I am constantly disappointed by Barbera, so I can't wait to see the episode. You said it was all trendy. It is trendy, but I'm personally constantly.
Speaker 2Yeah, I kind of drink it when I can't think of anything else to drink.
Speaker 1I drink it when I can't afford the fancier Italian stuff. If I can't afford Barolo at the time, it's like, oh my god, do you know what happened? I was at an Italian restaurant, like a nice Italian restaurant, with my friend and she was like you choose the wine. I was like budget. She goes, you just choose the wine. I'm like okay, and there's like a nice Langina Biolo. And she was like you choose the wine. I was like budget. She goes, you just choose the wine. I'm like okay, and there's like a nice Lange Nebbiolo. And I was like this is it? This is going to be delicious with our wine. She goes to me we don't have any Lange, but we, um, I recommend instead this Primitivo, I know, I know. And I was like, oh, and I didn't want to get dick and my friend doesn't know anything about wine. So she's like I don't know, she recommended it. We just do that right. And she's looking at me and I'm about to feel pressure. We got this stupid primitivo.
Xanadu: Structure Problems
Speaker 2I know, I had a similar experience. We were at Coda last weekend and I know Gemma, who's the head song there, and she wasn't there that night this guy who was our song, who was fabulously entertaining. He was a really cool dude I cannot remember josh, maybe. Um he. I said we had a helms reason from canberra to start with and then I said, well, you know what the menu is. You recommend something because you know it's just a dime thing. And he went gamay ha, and if you don't know, I'm not a big fan of gamay and I that's my least favorite grape variety. But you know what, I'm gonna go it. And this and bloody good, it was fine.
Speaker 2Yeah, I picked it and it was katrin and alex, so it's kind of pete's step sister and they just recently got married, so this was their wedding present because they've and it was Katrin and Alex, so it's kind of Pete's step-sister and they just recently got married, so this was their wedding present because they've been living together for years, they don't know anything. So we took them out for dinner too. We went to Gimlet for a drink, and then we took them to Kota, nice, nice, and we were all kind of sitting there and then he came back with, oh, something else. We ended up with a barbiera, which, again for alex, who I found out subsequently drinks for ross and shiraz, he's probably sitting there going what is this crap that I'm drinking?
Speaker 2but yeah, but pete said to me don't you ever do that again. The pricing of the wine was crazy. It was $1,000 for the four of it and the meal's like $100 because it's a flat. So this guy was on the Helms raising. It was $1,100. Oh my God. And Gimlet cost us like $150. Yeah, wood, nice wedding presents. And Ilet cost us like $150. Yeah, wood, nice wedding present. And I'm just like okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, we had a fantastic meal. The wines were interesting and hats off to the guy and I felt really sorry for him when he said, oh, gamona's went really.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, I was a bit pissy by then because I had my gimlet and my oh Gamay and his friend, Really.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, I was going to kiss you by then because I had my gimlet and my oh and a glass of champagne.
Speaker 1You say what you think when you're completely sober, let alone throwing a few glasses. I can just imagine you giving it to this poor guy who recommended Gamay. He was a scared struttingay. All right, okay, so we're done. We'll be back next week. We're talking about Barbera. I know we're really like this recording session. We're all over the place. I don't know. We're having a nice time. Anyway, we'll see you next time. Until then, enjoy your next glass of wine. Drink well.
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