2023 Nocturne, Chardonnay, Treeton - 'up there with the very best ever' EL
Stellar
Erin Larkin, robertparker.com, November 2024
2023 Nocturne, Chardonnay, Treeton, Margaret River
£125 per 6 bottle case in bond
Our fastest selling offer of the year surprised us as it was the first time we had offered a wine from Nocturne in Western Australia. It absolutely flew – and rightly so, the 2023 Forrest Vineyard Chardonnay is stunning. I can’t recall tasting a Margaret River Chardonnay that impressed me that much in a very long time…..but I did taste another example from Nocturne on the same occasion. We tasted and purchased their 2023 Treeton Chardonnay too, which we are pleased to offer here for the first time. We tend to focus on one wine at a time in our weekly offers, particularly if introducing a new estate and decided to hold the Treeton back until we had it available for despatch.
Simply put, this is worth snapping up as this is a cracking price for a single-vineyard Chardonnay of this level. As winemaker, Julian Langworthy puts it, when describing the 2023 vintage; ‘it was Goldilocks personified, and you all know what Goldilocks liked, she liked things just right’. 2023 in the Margaret River was cool yet sunny, had good spring rain, but a long, dry growing season – everything was near ideal. Julian reckons it might well be the best of the 24 vintages he has made in Australia. Judging by what I have tasted from Nocturne, I am in no position to argue!
Nocturne is based in the Margaret River, Western Australia. The wines are made by Julian Langworthy, a seriously talented winemaker who was named Halliday’s Best Winemaker in 2019…simply put, he is highly regarded. Unsurprisingly, for what might be termed a boutique winery, Nocturne focus on making small batch single-vineyard wines, principally from Treeton, Yallingup, and Wilyabrup.
I include the note of Erin Larkin, of robertparker.com, together with my own thoughts on this tremendous Western Australian Chardonnay.
2023 Nocturne, Chardonnay, Treeton
£125 per 6 bottle case in bond
94 points, Erin Larkin, robertparker.com
The 2023 SR Treeton Chardonnay is nutty and tightly coiled, with spring flowers, ripe fruit and salty acidity. On the palate, the wine is pure, fine and long, and the acid stands up, as it always does, and makes for exciting, electric drinking. I emphatically support the 2023 vintage in Western Australia; it seems to have extracted the best from most producers, in most regions, across most varieties. Stellar. This is up there with the very best ever. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink 2024-2033
As to my own thoughts, this wine just got better and better in the glass – it really opened out – it does have a terrific purity and clarity. At first it needed just a little air, then the toasted nut, citrussy fruit notes started to come forward. It was taut on the palate, but with air the fruit really started to show notes of white peach, nectarine and lemon. There is a stoney, flinty quality here too and that life-giving acidity leads to a markedly saline finish. This is very classy indeed – a different expression to the Forrest, which was perhaps more intense, but both wines share a stunning satiny texture and such clarity. It is very hard not to be impressed.
I am sure these wines will find favour with our clients, as this is a brilliantly crafted Chardonnay from a five star vintage. My advice is to take advantage of wines as good as this in vintages like this.
Please let us know of your interest.
Simon
simon.larkin@atlasfinewines.com