Salo Chardonnay 2023
If ever there was a quiet achiever of Australian wine it’s Salo. It’s been turning out gorgeous chardonnay, year after year, for the past sixteen years, the past eleven of them from the Full Moon Vineyard at Gladysdale in the Upper Yarra Valley. These chardonnays are just, simply, joyous wines. They are a side project of winemakers Steve Flamsteed and Dave Mackintosh, a side project that has dabbled in other varieties over the journey but now makes only one wine each year. There’s a lot to be said for this approach. When all your eggs are in one basket, chances are that you’ll make sure that it’s one hell of a great basket. The 2023 Salo Chardonnay (AU $55) is proof that beauty can be captured in liquid form. I generally detest the word soul when it’s aligned to wine, but the face this wine turns to the world is so soulful that it seems milked of tears. It’s a radiant wine. It’s sunshine on a sad face. It’s many things and it’s more.
See the formal review of this wine on The Winefront.
