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Hoddles Creek Estate Syberia Chardonnay 2021

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Hoddles Creek Estate Syberia Chardonnay 2021
Producer Hoddles Creek Estate
Region, Country Yarra Valley, Australia
Bottle Size 750ml
Case Size 6
Product Code 23967-750

Syberia Chardonnay is a single-block wine sourced from a 10-acre block planted in 2006 at the highest point on the Hoddles Creek property. Unusually, the plantings run east to west, meaning the sun shines onto the canopy rather than directly on the fruit, resulting in long, even ripening. It’s a low-yielding plot, with 1.3 tonnes per acre considered an average yield. In 2021, the block was ravaged by deer, diminishing the already paltry crop by a further 40% and resulting in just 300kg of fruit per acre. When we asked Franco about the evolution of Hoddles Creek Chardonnay, he responded with typically refreshing honesty: “It hasn’t really changed in 25 years. When I first started, I had no idea how to make Chardonnay, and I still make it the same way today: pick it, press it, leave it on full solids, rack it to barrel and let it do its thing.” Makes it sound easy!

The 2021 was whole bunch-pressed to barrel and spent seven months in old oak, followed by long maturation in bottle, which Franco asserts “preserves vineyard purity”. The meagre yields have resulted in a wine of great concentration, yet in signature Syberia style, it’s light, chiselled and lithe. An excellent release.

Hoddles Creek Estate Syberia Chardonnay 2021

Reviews

“Delicious, wonderful expression of chardonnay delivering quite a bit of concentration compared to other Syberia releases, richness of stone fruit, some sugared almond notes, cinnamon, faint honeycomb and alpine herb elements in palate and bouquet. Texture is glorious, silky then firms up in the distance to a fine, talc-like minerally pucker. Elegant, refined, showing detail of fruit, spice, mineral, well-judged oak seasoning. Done with aplomb. Stellar stuff.”
96 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“A heartbreak wine because feral deer also thought the fruit spectacular this vintage and foraged through the vineyard, reducing yields to a measly 300 kilograms per acre. Ouch! But the wine, oh the wine. Not much of it, but it is exceptional. Tight, linear, pure and full of all manner of citrus flavours from lemon zest, juice and pith with beautiful texture, almost a zinc-like quality, saline and mouth-watering. Superfine acidity all the way through, and it lingers long. To ensure crops are now safe, deer fencing has been erected, protecting the precious Syberia site.”
96 points, Jane Faulkner, The Wine Companion
“Light yellow hue with intense honey/nougat/creamy lees and nectarine bouquet and flavour; traces of slate and green melon. A fruit-sweetness on the middle-palate before a clean finish with a more textural dryness, enhanced by some oak tannins. This could unfold more if cellared another year or so.”
93 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
“The Hoddles Creek 2021 Syberia is a mineral wine that speaks of pressed flowers and crushed shells. It is tight and light and excellently shaped, with the acidity like a scythe… The 2021 Syberia is mineral, tightly wound and gently austere: it shows brine and scratched citrus, candle wax and crushed shells, apple skins and tatami mat. The wine is uber fine and focused and spools through the long finish. This is a gorgeous expression of Chardonnay, potently laden with white flowers, tobacco, green tea, sea spray and juicy acidity through the titillating finish. I think if you're drinking this now, you are showing your impatience. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.”
96 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

Reviews

“Delicious, wonderful expression of chardonnay delivering quite a bit of concentration compared to other Syberia releases, richness of stone fruit, some sugared almond notes, cinnamon, faint honeycomb and alpine herb elements in palate and bouquet. Texture is glorious, silky then firms up in the distance to a fine, talc-like minerally pucker. Elegant, refined, showing detail of fruit, spice, mineral, well-judged oak seasoning. Done with aplomb. Stellar stuff.”
96 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“A heartbreak wine because feral deer also thought the fruit spectacular this vintage and foraged through the vineyard, reducing yields to a measly 300 kilograms per acre. Ouch! But the wine, oh the wine. Not much of it, but it is exceptional. Tight, linear, pure and full of all manner of citrus flavours from lemon zest, juice and pith with beautiful texture, almost a zinc-like quality, saline and mouth-watering. Superfine acidity all the way through, and it lingers long. To ensure crops are now safe, deer fencing has been erected, protecting the precious Syberia site.”
96 points, Jane Faulkner, The Wine Companion
“Light yellow hue with intense honey/nougat/creamy lees and nectarine bouquet and flavour; traces of slate and green melon. A fruit-sweetness on the middle-palate before a clean finish with a more textural dryness, enhanced by some oak tannins. This could unfold more if cellared another year or so.”
93 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
“The Hoddles Creek 2021 Syberia is a mineral wine that speaks of pressed flowers and crushed shells. It is tight and light and excellently shaped, with the acidity like a scythe… The 2021 Syberia is mineral, tightly wound and gently austere: it shows brine and scratched citrus, candle wax and crushed shells, apple skins and tatami mat. The wine is uber fine and focused and spools through the long finish. This is a gorgeous expression of Chardonnay, potently laden with white flowers, tobacco, green tea, sea spray and juicy acidity through the titillating finish. I think if you're drinking this now, you are showing your impatience. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.”
96 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

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