From Vines Planted By The Ellis Family In Tasmania’s Derwent Valley In 1987, The Fruit For Meadowbanks Always Complex, Intense And Tightly Structured Wine Is Handpicked And Whole-bunch Pressed Straight Into To French Barriques (15% New) Before Being Matured For Nine Months And With Very Little Lees Stirring In The Barrels To Retain Freshness And Purity. Great On Release, It Will Reward At Least Four To Six Years, If Not Longer, In The Cellar.
Vines planted '87, hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed straight to French barriques (15% new), matured for 9 months, the majority without stirring. Very pure, intense and long, balance thanks to the foregoing. The minimalistic approach is interesting.
95 points, Wine Companion (March 2019)
White nectarine, ripe lemon, oatmeal and fennel seeds. Tight, light, frisky acidity, good flavour, almond and white peach, white powder texture, lemon and spice on a long cool finish. Quiet, but intense. Time will likely be kind.
94 points, The Wine Front (December 2019)
This has terrific, tightly wound intensity of lemons and white peaches. Great acidity here. Long and powerful chardonnay.
94 points, JamesSuckling.com (June 2019)
Planted in 1974 at Glenora, near the top end of the Derwent River, Gerald and Sue Ellis purchased Meadowbank in 1976 and have, over the years expanded the vineyard to its present 42ha. And while some good wines were made over the years under the label, most of the fruit was contracted to Accolade with some of it going to Bay of Fires where Peter Dredge was establishing a name for himself as one of Australia’s best young winemakers. Dredge left Accolade in 2015 to both consult and begin his own Dr Edge brand and Gerald Ellis wasted no time seeing if Peter would be interested in both becoming a partner and the winemaker at Meadowbank. The rest, as they say, is history and the numerous golds and trophies at wines shows around the country are testament to just how good these wines are now.
