Shy Susan Chardonnay 2023

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of Shy Susan Chardonnay 2023.

Shy Susan Chardonnay 2023
$55, 13% alcohol, screwcap, Alpine Valleys.

From a ridiculously low yielding clone, and there are only two rows of it. It takes the Billy Button/Shy Susan crew three days to pick a miniscule 900 kgs. This chardonnay is distinctly different to everything else we see from the Alpine Valleys. It sees no new oak.

Smoky notes, a bit of flint, a core of white peach, a smear of nougat. This is A Grade chardonnay. It has an intensity, it’s complex, it’s elegant and it extends. Bacony oak, lactose and almond paste characters apply a gentle satiny-creaminess to the mouthfeel. This is a wine of character and length; it will still be drinking well in 20 years time. Leave this alone for a few years and then revel in it. 95+ points.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, founder of The Winefront and mattinson, and former chief editor of Halliday.

When you pick up a wine book and see thousands of top-scoring wines, it’s hard to know which wine to choose. Mattinson guides you through this maze, giving you an honest view of the best Australian wines, the best wine stories, the best wine producers, the best value wines and simply, the best tasting wines. Importantly, Mattinson will tell you about the top-rated wines and also about the underrated wines. In short, Mattinson knows Australian wines inside and out.

Mattinson has been a photo-journalist since 1987. For the past 25 years he’s been a voice that you can trust when you’re looking for the best wines. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award, and is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter. He’s not afraid to put a score beside a wine. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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