“I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen anything quite like the new Elanto vineyard on the Mornington Pensinula. Is it Australia’s largest close-planted vineyard? You’d reckon. It was all planted in one go, in 2018, and when I say all I mean 10.6 hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, in one continuous vineyard, with rows only 1.2 metres apart, and vines only 0.75 metres apart. This spacing and this area means that the Elanto vineyard is 10.6 hectares of 11,111 vines each hectare, which equates to a vineyard made up of 117, 777 individual vines, arranged into eight separate blocks. The fact that it has all gone in essentially at once, and that it’s all trained to within an inch of its life, and that it was all mapped according to expert geological consultation – not to mention that no expense at any point along the way has been spared – means that even to a non-expert eye it’s abundantly clear that something extraordinary is in the works here.
The location of this vineyard is an elevated, south-east facing site at Balnarring, overlooking Western Port Bay. I’ve written more on Elanto over on the blog – here – but basically this is a remarkable site and the start of what promises to be a pretty special journey. Sandro Mosele, noted former winemaker of Kooyong and Port Phillip Estate, is in charge of the winemaking, and of plenty more besides.
The wine:
Fantastic intensity of flavour matched to fantastic length. This is a chardonnay for lovers of chardonnay. There’s cedarwood oak in play, and a kind of nutty-creaminess too, but it’s the blaze of pear, white peach, grapefruit and steel that really woos. Citrussy acidity teams with the pear characters to give the wine an air of juicy refreshment, but everything is in the context of flavour, bold and delicious. This is an exceptional first release, and a truly beautiful wine. 95pts.”
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
