Place of Changing Winds Tradition White 2022

Now here’s a cheeky experiment gone wonderfully right. We threw together a third Chardonnay with a duo of Marsanne and Roussanne and gave them a posh holiday—oak casks, wineglobes, and a little stainless steel spa time. The result? A Rhône-style white that’s rich, textured and brimming with personality. Think honey, spice, a whiff of smoky charcuterie, and just enough oak swagger to keep things exciting. It’s full-bodied, it’s structured, it’s outrageously moreish. We’re officially obsessed, and you might be too.

Critics thoughts - The ‘Tradition’ wines are a blend of estate grapes and bought-in grapes, the latter usually from neighbouring regions. This Tradition White is a blend of Marsanne, Roussanne and Chardonnay, matured in a range of vessels and vessel types, including new oak, glass vats, neutral barriques and stainless steel.

I tasted this at the work table and I also had a couple glasses with dinner, so it passed the initial do-I-want-to-take-this-home test. The texture is beautiful, the body too, it brings flavour and a level of panache. Almost anything with roussanne in it has me at hello and then there’s chardonnay, the charms of which precede it, so to speak. This is my kind of white wine, unafraid of flavour, unafraid of fullness, sparked with spice, slippery with sweet, integrated oak, the flesh of yellow stonefruit laid on. For all the time I spent with it, I kept wanting the finish to extend out a fraction further, and for there to be a fraction less warmth. An extra year or two in bottle will likely deal with the former, and possibly the latter too. Either way, it’s a classy white wine.  94+ points Campbell Mattinson The Wine Front