2022 Les Fruits Rudy Chardonnay

This is probably the best wine Tim Stock makes.

Sourced from a tiny, co-farmed block of 38-year-old Chardonnay vines in the Piccadilly Valley, it’s a wine that Tim handles with extreme care - hand-harvested and chilled overnight before a gentle whole-bunch press. With only three barrels produced, it’s a small-batch expression that captures a very specific moment in the Hills.

There is no heavy-handed cellar trickery here; instead, the focus is on a light settling of the juice before it heads into old barrels for fermentation. It’s a tighter, more focused version of Rudy than we've seen in previous years, but it still carries that trademark mid-palate softness that makes it so drinkable.

Flavour-wise, it’s all about lemon, grapefruit, and white florals, backed by a savoury, slightly salty edge. Because it’s bottled unfined and unfiltered, the texture has a lovely "fluffy" mouthfeel, though you might find a bit of sediment in the last glass - but don't worry that's fine to drink! It’s a concentrated, energetic white that is drinking beautifully now but has the acid structure to suggest it’s only going to get better.