Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay

The Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay is a beautifully textured and complex wine that seriously delivers in flavour. This wine has a beautiful balance between creamy flavours and an acidic backbone that leaves you wanting sip after sip. This wine ticks all the boxes and could be enjoyed now or cellared for years. 

Over the weekend we finally opened this beautiful Chardonnay from Petaluma’s latest release of Yellow Label. I’m surprised I’ve managed to hold off for so long. My partner is a Chardonnay fiend and he’s had his eye on this one for ages. He kept suggesting we crack it open mid-week and I had to tell him “No this is something special”.

But in the end, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to enjoy this Chardonnay. So on a Sunday afternoon, we cracked it open before dinner to enjoy with a cheese platter. Sometimes you need to make your own special occasion around a wine like this. And I am so glad I did! It was so good that I had to share it with you all.

About Petaluma

When it comes to Australian wine, Petaluma is a bit of an icon. From humble beginnings in 1976, Petaluma has always been focused on producing ultra-premium wines through growing the right varieties in the right wine region. Their Yellow Label range is an exploration of this and provides classic wines in both style and regionality, produced using premium grapes and prime vineyards. I reviewed their Shiraz a few months ago and it was delicious.

Petaluma has a prestigious reputation for a reason and has developed this over the past four decades. This release is no exception and by picking by hand they’ve ensured you are really in for a treat with these quality wines.

The Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay is sourced from the Piccadilly Valley in the Adelaide Hills. It experienced a relatively dry winter and spring followed by a hot and dry summer, leading to a warmer growing season. As a result, the vintage produced one of the smallest crops throughout the valley. Translation: concentrated Chardonnay flavours in the glass for us! The fruit was hand-harvested, followed by fruit barrel fermentation in 40% new oak. The wine was then matured on yeast lees for eight months so you can expect some oaked and creamy flavours from this wine.

Why I loved the Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay

In short, this wine is simply delicious and beautifully balanced. Whether you like oaked or unoaked Chardonnay, the Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay offered something for everyone. It had those oaky and creamy notes that are classic to Chardonnay, but also had some delicious fruity flavours and a crisp finish.

On the nose, this wine has a serious vibrancy and intensity. Think yellow peach, nectarine and a hint of lemon curd. But in the glass, this wine delivered even more! This wine is full-flavoured with amazing texture and complexity. Those flavours from the nose dominate, but are balanced by toasty notes and vanilla from the oak influence. The texture was smooth and creamy but had a lovely acidic backbone that left the wine crisp at the finish.

What to enjoy it with

The Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay is a perfect wine for food and a great option for summer meals. It would be right at home with a chicken dish such as roast chicken, or something with a rich and creamy sauce such as a risotto or pasta. But you could just as easily enjoy it with seafood too.

We enjoyed this wine before dinner with a cheese platter and honestly it was absolutely perfect. Nothing beats a rich creamy brie and a Chardonnay in my opinion, and it was great to just sip on this wine and enjoy it as we relaxed on a Sunday afternoon.

The final word on the Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay

The Petaluma 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay is seriously delicious. Although it is a higher price point, it is well worth it for this age-worthy wine. This wine left you going back for sip after sip because it was so deliciously rich and complex, but still crisp and refreshing. It ticked all the boxes for me and made me wish I had another bottle to leave for a few years to see how the flavours changed. This is the sort of wine you could easily keep for another decade but is drinking oh so well now.

This wine is available at Dan Murphy’s, Vintage Cellars and independent stores nationally. You can also purchase it online.

Note: I was sent this wine as a sample. I was under no obligation to post about it.