2023 Mac Forbes Yarra Valley, Australia - Chardonnay

Mac Forbes is a native of the Yarra Valley, just east of Melbourne - one of Australia’s  cool-climate wine regions. After a several-year spell of vineyard and cellar work in France, Portugal, Austria, and England, he returned to his native valley to farm vineyards and make wines under his own name starting in 2005. He’s now one of the premier, newer-wave Australian producers.

Mac’s Yarra Valley Chardonnay comes from a mix of vineyards scattered around the valley. The wine fermented with indigenous yeasts in old barriques and then aged for 11 months in old large and small oak barrels. Alcohol is just 12% - cool-climate indeed! This is a bright and balanced chardonnay with flinty stoniness and a minty note. Comparisons to Chablis wouldn’t be out of place, but there’s some tart stone fruit character that makes this wine distinctive. A quick decant, or vigorous aeration in the glass, helps bring out the wine’s expressiveness. It’s great with roast chook (that’s chicken in Australian slang) or a mild sheep's milk cheese.