2020 PIERRO 'VR' CHARDONNAY
"The thing is with wine you only have one chance each year to refine and improve what you do.This also demands a careful balance between tradition and change. So it can take many years to build a body of knowledge. I first made Chardonnay in 1980 and I hope this wine expresses the 40 years of accumulated experience and heritage. We have matured this wine for 4 years in bottle for you and it is ready to drink now. It will also continue to age gracefully for a further 6 years if cellared in cool conditions at 14-16 degrees."
-Mike Peterkin
VINEYARD
Parcels of fruit are handpicked from the north facing slopes of Pierro property in Willyabrup. Each block features unique high-density narrow rows on rocky soil that slope down to the Willyabrup Brook. All vines are mature (over 30 years old), low yielding, with the canopy pruned so the fruit rests close to the earth. This leads to a lower quantity of higher quality, balanced fruit on each vine, rich in concentration and flavour. All vineyard parcels are situated within 3km of the coast and are influenced by the maritime climate and fresh, pure ocean sea breezes prevalent during the growing season .The vineyards are managed to maximise fruit, leaf and cane exposure to sunlight; minimise wind damage in the spring and to heighten flavour development in the summer ripening period. 100% of the VR is from gin-gin clone chardonnay which has proven itself to to produce the best quality wine, and one that has been particularly successful in Margaret River.
WINEMAKING
Each parcel is hand-picked, chilled, hand-sorted and gently whole bunch pressed. There are multiple picks for this wine. With the first batches being picked for aromatic complexity and acidity and the latter picked for flavour and body. All juice is settled and then fermented in French barriques. The wine goes through a full malolactic fermentation which helps achieve superior texture, mouth feel and a more refined, persistent flavour. Lees are stirred fortnightly by hand in barrel over a period of 12 months prior to blending, settling and bottling. The VR is a selection of the best 10 barrels that Pierro produces and is made only in only exceptional vintages.
2020 VR Chardonnay
Ripe lemon and lime, nectarine and pineapple, ginger and baking spice, nougat, pastry dough and aniseed. It's a veritable powerhouse when it comes to flavour, floods the mouth, but also has a core of bright limey acidity through salted cashew, shortbread and brittle toffee richness. Chalky and flinty too, with extreme length. Oh, the power and the passion. Incredible Chardonnay.
97/100 - Gary Walsh -The Wine Front-
2020 VR Chardonnay
I remember tasting this great chardonnay on release, thinking I wonder how that will be in a few years. Well now I know. Bloody marvellous. This captures so much of the character of this excellent although small Margaret River vintage. IT’s delicate yet it has so much power driving through on the palate. Butterscotch and white peach with an edge of nectarine work in harmony. Starting to show subtle traces of development, but here is still plenty to go.
98/100 - Ray Jordan - WA Wine Guide
Bright mid yellow-green, the bouquet pungent and powerful, attention-getting and buttery, with quite assertive spicy oak. The palate offers a gorgeous array of flavours, with buttery croissant, shortbread and bread crust, side-notes of lime and lemon, the bottle-aged characters really starting to be obvious and deliciously more-ish. A gorgeous chardonnay which is in the zone now. Classic, full throttle regional-style chardonnay.
96/100 - Huon Hooke - The Real Review
2019 VR Chardonnay
This 2019 Vintage Reserve Chardonnay leads with salted, crushed and pan-fried nuts (pistachio, almond, walnut), white stone fruit, preserved citrus rind, white tea leaves, nashi pear and hints of nougat. All are shaped by fine, pliable structure in the mouth. This is a powerful wine, perfectly in balance and mouthfilling with its palate-staining fruit. Pierro has long been a beacon in the region for Chardonnay, and these Vintage Rerserve wines are just an extension of that. Superb, utterly superb. The ideal intersection between pleasure and intellect. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
The Vintage Reserve Chardonnays, or VR Chardonnays, are a barrel select of the estate Chardonnays and serve as a testament to the latent power and endurance of this close-planted vineyard in Margret River (planted 1980). 2019 was a cool year with plenty of rainfall for the region. The wines produced have been excellent quality for the two leading varieties of the region: Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Each variety expresses, through the lens of this particular season, in a more detailed, poised and delicate way than either of the powerful (and also excellent) seasons on either side.
97+/100 - Erin Larkin - The Wine Advocate
2019 VR Chardonnay
"Peterkin holds a little of each year's Chardonnay back for release two years later. It's a great way to see how these wines benefit from that extra time in bottle. This is now starting to reveal more its toasty butterscotch character with a lift of lemon and grapefruit supported by a fine thread of minerally acidity. Great drinking now and for the next few years."
95/100 - Ray Jordan - WA Wine Review
2019 VR Chardonnay
Richness and generosity, freshness and chalky-flinty minerality - all even, all in synch, all good. Scents of honey toast, Parisian almonds, ripe apple, nashi pear and cinnamon. The palate similarly set, plush in a way but for that building pucker of talc-like chew and yet it finishes with amplitude and very long down the trail. A little cinnamon and clove spice lingers, a touch of almond nuttiness too. There's a lot of chardonnay here, and it's done well in that way. Delicious and moreish expression.
95/100 - Mike Bennie -The Wine Front-
2017 VR Chardonnay
" Light yellow hue with a smoky, slightly burnt-rubber overtone to the bouquet, while the palate is intense and refined, penetrative and long, with a little development starting to creep in. Roasted hazelnuts starting up. A powerful, concentrated chardonnay, with excellent persistence. A very satisfying full-bodied chardonnay."
96/100 - Huon Hooke -The Real Review-
2015 VR Chardonnay
Mixed citrus, melon and stonefruit, whiff of struck match, honey and white flowers. Powerful, but not over-done, lime and just ripe pineapple, pumice stone texture, tang of sweet citrus acidity lights it up, toasty oak noted, but integrating, finish is effortlessly long. Superstar. I’m dithering between 96 and 97 points, but the quiet authority and length, I think, have convinced me. Drink 2020-2030+97/100 - Gary Walsh -The Wine Front-
2014 VR Chardonnay
The great leap forward. Struck match, stonefruit and grapefruit tang, spiced biscuits, and personality. It hits the palate, grips and thrills, ample flavour but delivered with finesse and energy. Flinty bits through sheen of regional fruit power. Such length, precise and clean to close. Superb. Drink 2019-2029+96/100 - Gary Walsh -The Wine Front-