Collector Tiger Tiger Chardonnay 2021

Trophy – Best Chardonnay of Show
Canberra and Region Wine Show 2021

‘Standout chardonnay’ – 95+ Points Campbell Mattinson

Alex McKay started Collector Wines in 2005 with just a handful of cool climate shiraz and a determination to make elegant, long-lived wines. Fast forward to today, and they are known for wines that sing with a purity of regional expression and varietal definition.

The 2020/21 growing season was marked by moist and cool conditions throughout, with vines exhibiting luscious growth, but very modest yields, as they recovered from the prior years of drought. A long, cool ripening period enabled stress-free ripening and very memorable accumulation of aromatics and grape acid.

Vineyard blocks are variously located between 610 and 760m altitude at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains.  The sites offer exceptional conditions for growing Chardonnay at the cool margin.  The soil is deep, well-drained, weathered granite.

The grapes were harvested at just over 12 Baumé, with 10+ g/L acid. The fruit was whole bunch pressed and run to a mix of new and seasoned Allier and Vosges oak for fermentation. Parcels underwent varying degrees of malolactic fermentation, and were aged on lees, before blending and bottling in December 2021.

“Standout chardonnay. Piercing, long and complex. Grapefruit and florals, matchsticks and nectarine. There’s a keen flintiness here, a real drive, an impression that everything has been done sans compromise. There’s definitely a good deal of sulphide-funk here but the wine carries it with such authority.” – 95+ Points Campbell Mattinson, The Winefront