Fresh acidity underpins texture and complexity arising from fermentation in fine French oak barriques followed by maturation on yeast lees for several months. Creamy, gentle richness precedes that taut structure, a product of our cool climate and lofty vineyard site. Fresh apple/ nectarine fruit characters, secondary brioche notes, with a complementary complex amalgam of toasty oak.

94 Points Rated

Patrick Eckel MW

"There are a number of 2016 Chardonnay releases starting to roll in with this release from Collalto amongst the best I’ve tried of the vintage to date. It’s still youthful, but has some real class that will show itself in years to come. The nose is a floral expression of white peach, melon and richer cashew.

This is a chardonnay of great balance with an underlying web of finely filamented acidity. Varietal stone fruits have an edge to them in terms of both the lithe citrus drive and an almond meal richness the is seamlessly integrated. The wine finishes with purity of peach but there is a lingering note of leesy richness that suggests this will grow into something special over time."

90 Points Rated

James Halliday Wine Companion

Tight, tangy and energetic, this chardonnay boasts serious intention. Handpicked at night, the fruit is pristine. The oak, attractive. The wine, redolent of stone fruits and leesy, nutty pickup.

93 Points

Mike Bennie The Wine Front

Italian, meaning 'high hill'; the name of the village in Friuli-Venezia Giulia in north-eastern Italy from which our grandfather, Mio Tosolini, emigrated to Australia in the 1920s; and captures the essence of the cool climate Adelaide Hills vineyard, which rises to a height of 460 metres above sea level, and from which the grapes used to make this wine come - and nowhere else.

This is unashamedly a 'bells and whistles' Chardonnay (i.e. barrell fermented, full flavoured and complex) but is also very carefully a product of the cool, fresh Adelaide Hills. 

2016 was the earliest vintage in the winemaker's memory, due in a large part to an early start in spring 2015, followed by a summer with few heatwaves, but consistently warmer-than-average conditions. Generous crops rewarded those who managed their vines for the conditions, keeping a few extra shoots and leaves to balance what nature provided. The fruit was harvested with lovely natural acidity despite the early repening period.

Fertile brown loam over clay, with thinner topsoil areas on the ridges with broken shale and stone. Undulating with some very steep areas that provide (optimal) North and North-East facing orientation and aspect.