Latest news with #chardonnay
The Australian
2 days ago
- The Australian
The Australian Wine Club deal on WA chardonnay
You can point to so many things that make a bottle of West Australian chardonnay so gloriously distinct – the landscape where it grows, the breezes coming in off the coastline, the oak it matures in. But eucalyptus? Not so much. And yet, should you open a bottle of Willow Bridge's G1-10 Geographe chardonnay as part of this week's special offer case from The Australian Wine Club, the influence is real. Not in a literal sense, not on the nose or the palate. Nobody wants chardy with a streak of eucalypt. But at the Willow Bridge vineyard planted some 30 years ago by a farming family, the gnarled Marri trees are part of the circle of life that has delivered a run of sophisticated vintages and helped to turn a little pocket of WA into a unique hotbed of elegant wines and gourmet food. Founder Jeff Dewar can appreciate the role the Marri trees scattered across Willow Bridge's rolling acres in the Ferguson Valley, 175km south of Perth, have played in its past and present. The vineyards are planted in the Marri soil so prized by winemakers in WA, layers of red gravel and loam that typically host the red gums. Dewar and his wife, Vicki, were well aware of the Marri trees' influence in 1996 when they bought the site, and knew also that their flowers were a perfect lure for birds from the neighbouring state forest that otherwise might come pecking at the vines. 'Because there's no way we could net 150 acres of vine,' laughs Dewar. 'But probably 70 per cent of the time the Marri trees do blossom, so the silvereyes would much rather stay in the forest and eat the blossom and leave the grapes alone.' Vicki and Jeff Dewar on their Willow Bridge vineyard with children, from left, Cameron, Adele, Luisa and Kyle. The birds' loss is our gain, with the G1-10 Geographe Chardonnay one of a quartet of chardonnays from WA, offering a spread of varietal variation at an average bottle price of just $23.99. Also in the selection is the West Cape Howe Styx Gully Great Southern Chardonnay, with 92 points from the Halliday Wine Companion, the Lange Estate Providence Road Great Southern Chardonnay, also 92 points from Halliday, and the Risky Business White Knuckle Margaret River Chardonnay, with 90 points from Wine Orbit. Some might argue 'risky business' is an appropriate label for the rolling seasonal challenges of winemaking, but Dewar's farming background gives him a valuable sense of perspective. 'We just have to accept there will be factors outside your control – like birds, like the weather – and understanding that definitely comes from having an agricultural background,' he says. 'You accept that every year is going to throw up challenges and you just have to deal with it, otherwise farming and agriculture isn't the space that you probably should be in. 'But it's nice to reflect on taking the challenge to do something on this scale, in a so-called unknown region. Now it's an area that quite a few of the Margaret River brands are buying fruit from. 'It's a very consistent region, only 20 kilometres from the coast and that nice maritime breeze definitely has an impact on the quality.' Willow Bridge G1-10 Geographe Chardonnay 2023 Appropriately there's a sea-breeze salinity on the nose that softens the citrus fruit wash and lemon sherbet tartness. More sherbet follows on the palate, a little more salinity too plus grapefruit notes and savoury oak. The finish is savoury, the palate nicely weighted, and its best friend could well be a piece of fish pan-fried to a crispy skin. 13.3% alc, RRP $35 a bottle. SPECIALS $31.99 in any dozen, $23.99 in WA Chardonnay dozen. West Cape Howe Styx Gully Great Southern Chardonnay 2023 Flecks of green point up the pale gold hue on first pour and hint at the lemon, pear and honey notes on the nose – seguing to nectarine and white peach, and just a hint of chalk. The palate offers more lemon and lime along with grapefruit pith, and the balance is just so elegant. A good acidity keeps it lovely and fresh, and there's a hint of savouriness from the oak. 12.5% alc, RRP $36 a bottle. SPECIALS $29.99 in any dozen, $23.99 in WA Chardonnay dozen. Lange Estate Providence Road Great Southern Chardonnay 2023 A super-fresh chardy that's bursting with toasty oak and mandarins, nectarine and ripe melon on the nose – with just a hint of spice and clove. On the palate there's oatmeal, melon and nectarine, ripe citrus and spicy oak. The tangy acidity keeps it all fresh and delicious. 13% alc, RRP $35 a bottle. SPECIALS $29.99 in any dozen, $23.99 in WA Chardonnay dozen. Risky Business White Knuckle Margaret River Chardonnay 2023 A ride that's more dreamy than white knuckle, this has a gorgeous golden hue and aromas that leap from the glass – stone fruits such as peach and yellow nectarine, and some gooseberry and vanilla for good measure. In the mouth there's a delicious balance between fruit and oak, the stone fruits coming again with hints of lemon and a very more-ish mouthfeel. 12.5% alc, RRP $25 a bottle. SPECIALS $21.99 in any dozen, $23.99 in WA Chardonnay dozen. WA CHARDONNAY DOZEN Three bottles of each wine above for $23.99 a bottle. SAVE $105. Order online or phone 1300 765 359 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST and quote 'ACCJ'. Deals are available only while stocks last. The Australian Wine Club is a commercial partnership with Laithwaites Wine, LIQP770016550.
Fast Company
14-07-2025
- General
- Fast Company
How working parents can balance ambition and guilt
A few years ago, I met a woman at a networking event who whispered her confession over a plastic cup of chardonnay: 'I love my job. I'm proud of what I've built. But every time I miss a school play or forget to sign a field trip form, I feel like I failed them.' She didn't say who 'them' referred to. Perhaps her kids, society, herself. Maybe all three. That moment stuck with me because it symbolized the tension so many ambitious parents live with every day: The drive to achieve versus the guilt that comes from not always being present for our family. And let's be clear, this isn't just a working mom issue. Dads feel it. Stay-at-home parents with side hustles or passion projects feel it. Anyone who wants something outside of parenthood—whether it's a promotion, a creative dream, or even just a regular workout routine—knows that familiar battle between showing up for yourself and showing up for your kids. Where does the guilt come from? Let's start with the root of this guilt. For many of us, especially women, ambition and parenting, have long been thought of as rival (if not warring) priorities. A parent who is all-in at work is assumed to be checked out at home. The culture tells us you can't be fully present in both places. And if you try, be prepared to be stretched thinner than a toddler's patience in a long checkout line. Social media certainly doesn't help. While we're eating chips over our laptops, we scroll past moms packing bento box lunches with star-shaped cucumbers and love notes. We see dads coaching every Saturday soccer game while we're FaceTiming from a hotel room on yet another work trip. The comparison game is brutal. Yet, guilt doesn't only come from comparing ourselves to the parents who treat lunch prep like a Top Chef challenge. It hits because we care. Ambitious parents aren't just chasing promotions, we're also chasing snuggles, bedtime stories, and the sense that we're nailing this whole 'being a present parent' thing. So if we fall short, it feels like a dagger to the heart. Is it possible to be ambitious and a great parent? The short answer is yes. But not without first redefining what 'great' really looks like. Being a good parent isn't about being there for every single moment. It's about being there for the ones that matter most. You can miss the bake sale and still raise a kid that feels cared for and secure. What children need more than perfection is a realistic role model. They need to see what it looks like to pursue a dream, have challenges, set boundaries, and show up for the people you love. When it's rooted in purpose, ambition teaches kids resilience, how to manage their time and what it looks like to care deeply about something. That doesn't mean we should be so focused on the next achievement that we miss what's happening right in front of us. The key is staying in sync—pursuing your goals without neglecting your child's needs . . . or your own.
Globe and Mail
14-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
A legendary Niagara vineyard is no more, but its legacy continues to inspire the future of the industry
Winemaker Daniel Lenko recently posted an image of a backhoe in a vineyard, with uprooted vines scattered about the ground on his Facebook page. The caption – 'The end of an era' – announced Lenko's family farm in Beamsville was no longer home to Canada's oldest chardonnay vines – or any grape vines. For the first time in more than 75 years, the Lenko family won't supply grapes to Niagara wineries, but their pioneering legacy continues to inspire winemakers in the region. Lenko, a third-generation grape grower and owner of an eponymous winery, says rising costs and growing uncertainty forced his hand. Last year, 12 tonnes of his cabernet grapes rotted when he couldn't find a buyer. (Ontario grape growers were faced with a 7,000-tonne surplus of grapes in 2024, but this year winemakers are already saying they are struggling to secure enough grapes depending on the variety.) 'I have torn the vineyard out for financial reasons. I cannot keep pouring money into something that doesn't pay,' he explained in a direct message to this Globe and Mail reporter. The unexpected social-media post inspired heartfelt messages of shock and admiration from winemakers, wine lovers and customers. In response, Lenko suggested he was looking forward to relaxing – 'I'll see you at the beach this summer,' he says. (He continues to work in the industry, installing drainage tiles that help keep excess water from vineyards.) The 30-acre property on King Street West was planted to fruit trees and traditional labrusca grape varieties when Lenko's grandparents bought it and relocated from Manitoba in 1947. Twelve years later, his father, Bill, was encouraged to plant chardonnay by the foreman of Chateau-Gai Wines. He was assured there would always be a buyer for those grapes compared with the abundance of concord and Niagara varieties used to make jellies, jams and wine. Lenko's 1959 experimental vines – which inspired the family to plant more chardonnay in 1973 and 1984 and other vinifera vines throughout the years – was a proof of concept. 'Because of Bill's work in the 1960s, it was clear the Beamsville Bench could support vinifera,' says Len Pennachetti, president of family-owned Cave Spring Cellars, which planted its first vineyards in 1978. When the Pennachetti family planted 12 acres of chardonnay and riesling vines, they leaned on Lenko and a handful of other growers experimenting with vinifera. 'We were this small cadre of vinifera zealots working against the perceived wisdom at that time,' Pennachetti explains. 'We would talk to each other but wouldn't admit what we were doing to others because no one thought growing these varieties was possible.' On Christmas Day in 1980, a devastating freeze gripped Niagara vineyards with a -26 C chill. Similar temperatures were experienced shortly after New Year, which wiped out the buds that would have been the grape crop for the year and killing many vinifera vines, including some of Lenko's prized original vines. During a visit to discuss the damage, Pennachetti asked Bill Lenko if he could take one of the dead trunks of a gnarly old chardonnay vine that had been yanked out of the ground. He kept the six-foot-tall vine, roots and all, beside the fireplace at his home on Cave Spring Vineyard. 'It was a talisman,' he said. 'I would look at it every day and remind myself, we're going to get through this and make wine again.' Despite Mother Nature-inspired setbacks, vinifera vines continued to thrive in Niagara, but the industry as a whole was reluctant to switch over to better-quality grapes. The signing of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1988 would help reshape Niagara vineyards by inspiring the creation of the Vintners Quality Alliance regulations, which no longer permitted wines made from native labrusca varieties. Even then, cautious farmers planted easier-to-cultivate French hybrid grape varieties, such as baco noir, seyval blanc and vidal, instead of vinifera. As the modern industry continued to evolve and consumer acceptance grew, the acreage of vinifera varieties increased to meet demand. The Lenko family's operation expanded, too, with the opening of Daniel Lenko Estate Winery in 1999. The move helped the family generate additional revenue streams beyond grape sales and, once again, the Lenkos adopted an unconventional approach. The home vineyard fuelled a portfolio of 10 to 12 wines totalling around 3,500 cases each vintage. Those bottles were sold on weekends between February and August. (In Bordeaux, similar operations are called garagistes.) There wasn't a tasting room or wine boutique to welcome visitors. Guests sampled the wines at family's kitchen table, while enjoying kielbasa, cheese and homemade bread, followed by pie or other treats made by Lenko's mother Helen. Bill Lenko would insist visitors try his apricot jam before leaving. Critics and wine judges embraced Lenko's wines, conferring high scores and bright, shiny medals from various wine competitions. In 2007, following a tasting of 70 Canadian wines, British wine critic Jancis Robinson saved her loudest praise for Lenko's 2002 syrah: 'so delicious that I felt it was truly outstanding.' Winemaker Ilya Senchuk gained his first exposure to professional grape growing and winemaking working with the Lenkos between 2002 and 2010. The graduate of Brock University's wine program says the experience opened his eyes to the potential of Niagara wine and helped shape the development of his own family's winery. 'Wineries like Lenko really helped to kick-start the modern era of the Niagara industry,' says Senchuk, co-founder of Leaning Post in Stoney Creek. 'It was a terroir-based winery, rooted in the vineyard, with high-quality wine that received international recognition.' Daniel Lenko took an all-or-nothing approach to winemaking, only harvesting grapes with a ripe character to produce his preferred style of concentrated and ripe red wines and rich and flavourful chardonnays. Following the hot and dry conditions of the 2012 harvest, Niagara faced a variable 2013 growing season and a bitter frost in 2014 that damaged vineyards across the region. The farm reverted to selling grapes to wineries, such as Two Sisters in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which purchased chardonnay between 2015 and 2022 when their own chardonnay vines produced the enough grapes to satisfy their needs. Even last year, while clusters of cabernet were left to rot, Lenko's chardonnay grapes found a buyer – just as predicted.
The Herald
10-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald
GlenWood a good argument for icon chardonnay
For the chardonnay lover, GlenWood should be top of the must-visit list. There's a good argument for an 'icon wine' label as one explores through the layers of what cellar master DP Burger achieves with the grape. Though they tend to play under the radar, with the majority of their wines destined for European and northern hemisphere markets, GlenWood pulled out all the wine and sushi stops on Thursday to celebrate a double anniversary — 25 years of Burger's wine making, and 40 years since owner Alistair Wood purchased the property in the Robertsvlei Valley. Chardonnay has been the focus since GlenWood's inception, though they have become equally well known for top-drawer shiraz/syrah, as well as semillon and sauvignon blanc — all consistently rated 4-4.5* in Platter's and claiming international awards. The opening act of GlenWood Chardonnay 2024 (R170), naturally fermented and unwooded, brought to mind that horribly over-used description of 'sunshine in a glass'. On a chilly autumn evening, as the dark closed in earlier than it did a week before, it really did meet that description, a lift of golden colour and, if it's possible to describe flavour as golden and sunshiny, that too. Lightly creamy and textured, exuding citrus zest and blossoms, subtle vanilla, the wine has a lovely balance of complexity of flavour with lightness of touch and lively energy. A great example of chardonnay that's well made and also easy to like. It's always fascinating to taste through the levels of a particular varietal from one estate, the GlenWood chardonnays becoming more intense and complex as one moves up the range. GlenWood Vigneron's Selection Chardonnay 2024 (R350) is wild yeast-fermented in barrels and matured on the lees in French oak for eight months, and the effect shows in a more intensely golden hue, the citrus flavours intensified into grilled lemon, marmalade, dried orange peel. Creaminess is tempered by brisk mineral acidity, and oaky undertones from the time in wood giving buttery toast, all well integrated and finely balancing richness and freshness for a superb chardonnay. GlenWood Grand Duc Chardonnay 2023 — now this is Grand! Only 3,700 bottles were made and the Grand Duc recently claimed double gold in the Gilbert & Gaillard international challenge. Barrel-fermented and a full 24 months spent in new French oak would suggest you're going to get a rich, buttery, creamy chardonnay. The richness is there for sure, but the colour bright gold rather than the deep yellow of oaked chardonnay that's spent that much time in barrel, and the flavours are bright and pure. The nose lightly marmalade, on the palate fruit purity like biting into the fresh crunch of an ice-cold ripe pear on a hot day, a sprinkle of lemon zest, wrapped in light buttery creaminess, a lingering sense of texture and freshness, the whole impression one of delicacy and subtlety in a wine of structure and complexity, and most likely impressive ageability. If you love chardonnay and haven't met GlenWood yet, now is the time! The Herald
