TN: Howard Park Chardonnay 2003

[Waiters Friend]

G’day

Howard Park offers member tastings from time to time with a range of back vintage wines on offer. This seem s to be part of a long-standing program to show how the wines develop, and not, as some cynics might think, a means of selling off stock that’s over the hill.

This is an excellent example. At 22 years of age, the colour is deep golden, and a urologist would claim that the patient is suffering dehydration. However, there’s no hint of browning, and the wine is clear and bright in the glass.

The wine is labelled as ‘Western Australia’ but the back label reveals that the fruit is from a couple of Great Southern locations.

The nose is clean and has no notes of sherry or other characters that you would relate to a “past it” wine. Fruit has diminished considerably, and there’s baked peach and pastry as the dominant aromas, with a little preserved lemon.

The palate is rich without being heavy, and shows more of the developed fruits and pastry notes. Acid is soft but still present, and there’s some nutty oak observable as well. The wine finishes a little short, but I probably won’t have youthful vigour in my old age either.

Will this improve? Nope. Declining? Yes. Over the hill? No. It’s not going to be my favourite chardonnay this year, but it’s a fascinating curio, and this is the benefit of Howard Park’s aged releases.

Cheers
Allan