Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay 2019 Expert Wine Review
99 points. Ray Jordan, WinePilot.com, March 2022
“In many ways the most Burgundian of any of the Leeuwin releases, this will rank up there with the best to date. There’s a waxy light mealy aroma which picks up nuances of limestone and spice with a trace of grapefruit. But it is the palate that really distinguishes it. There is an austerity with the minerally chalky feel that cuts through the fruit extending to a finish of extraordinary length. Precision and focus harness a wine of great power and poise before dry savoury edges lift the finish.”
98+ points. Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal, March 2022
“Preservation of pristine fruit characters through vinification and maturation remains at the heart of winemaking. This of course starts in the vineyard where observations, reaction and mitigation of environmental patterns are key to vineyard management practices. The vineyard blocks have a north facing aspects and the rows run in an eastwest direction. The morphology of the Gingin clone sees the berries ripen differently. The smaller berries usually possess slightly higher sugars and acidity. Vintage takes place in mid-February to early March and the grapes (about 2-3 kilos per vine) are hand-harvested when they have reached a point of ‘energy, bone and pop!’ This translates to intense pure fruit aromas, richness of flavour, fine al dente textures and fresh indelible acidity. These are the hallmark qualities of Gingin clone chardonnay. I have often wondered at the clone’s provenance and passing resemblance to Meursault.
Pale colour. Intense lemon curd, grapefruit, peach, tropical fruit aromas with underlying roasted cashew/ hazel nut notes. Lovely grapefruit, lemon curd, tropical fruits, fine persistent chalky textures, attractive mid plate volume and fresh long indelible acidity. Finishes al dente, with savoury oak note. Still elemental but wonderfully balanced with the fruit density and torque to last the distance. Now – 2036.”
98 points. Erin Larkin, Halliday Wine Companion, 10 March 2022
“Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay on release is an achingly painful thing to drink, because once you’ve known the utter pleasure these wines bring at 5 or more years of age, it becomes a mess of cognitive dissonance to drink them so young. They are closed, taut, coiled, but more than anything, populated by rippling fruit that undulates untold through the interminably long finish. They typically don’t reveal their kaleidoscopic spice and prismatic fruit flavour until a little further down the track. So, all I can humbly do here, is place the vintage in context. Through the lens of the cool year, this glitters with a purity and finesse that is deeply attractive. Aligned in style with the 2017.”
97 points. Gary Walsh, The WineFront, March 2022
“It’s interesting to note the more refined, tighter style that Leeuwin has delivered over the last handful of years. They are still powerful, and rich in oak, but show less alcohol warmth and what you might call ‘breathiness’ these days. Anyway, a very good vintage for Chardonnay was 2019.
Pear, lemon oil, grapefruit, ginger, cinnamon and cedar oak, with a distinctly savoury sort of hazelnut character, along with some vanilla and white flower perfume. It’s tight, powerful, saline and precise, with a firm flintiness to texture, quite chalky, and superb spicy length and an almost umami aftertaste. I’m thinking grapefruits and biscuits, grilled nuts, even citrus zest. And for all its power and oak, it keeps itself racy and refined. It’s a cracking release.”