Chapel Hill Unwooded Chardonnay 2000

By MICHELE CURTIS

This is not a roast chicken chardonnay; it's more your smoked salmon or prawn salad type of charders. Forget the traditional toasty, melon, biscuity chardonnay and think more tropical zesty flavours.

This unwooded chardonnay leans towards the light, crisp, thirst-quenching end of the scale. With slightly apple and tropical fruit flavours, it is pale gold in the glass and has a hint of a melony richness at the end.

No wood or malolactic fermentation in production can ruin a chardonnay, but this Chapel Hill wine still comes out on top with a good palate and strong fruitiness.

If you are used to full-on chardonnays, you may want to give this one a miss, but it's a well-made wine with plenty to offer in the way of summer drinking.

As roast chook is off the menu, try prawn salad with a lime juice, ginger and chilli dressing, a plate of grilled vegetable and seafood antipasto or with a few slices of smoked salmon, buttered rye bread and lemon wedges.

RRP $14.95
3 out of 5