Hay Shed Hill 2010 Block 6 Chardonnay

 Ah, the joys of a changing palate…

Or, more accurately, developing styles and changes in public perceptions. It's not that long since the drinking public seemed to be pouring vast quantities of Anything But Chardonnay down their collective throats, a shift in consumption that had winemakers scrabbling around for a way back once the big buttery styles I used to like went off the boil out there in Consumerland.

And in the wake of the Kiwi Savalanche, you'd be wondering how anything else was going to get a look in, but here's a perfect example of what's out there for the Savvied-out drinker, assuming you're not getting a bit of Semillon in with the Savvy or haven't rediscovered the joys of Riesling.

Hay Shed Hill 2010 Block 6 Chardonnay (4.5* $35) Early picked fruit from thirty-five-year-old dry-grown vines, free run juice, a total lack of malolactic fermentation (so not even a daub of butter in sight)  and minimal exposure to oak delivers fresh apple, citrus  and stone fruit aromas to the nose, concentrated flavours across the palate in an elegant understated style that's simultaneously vibrant and intensely fruity. Very easy to drink now, and could develop over the short to medium term, but the stocks wi;l, I suspect, be gone by autumn.