VASSE FELIX The Heytesbury Chardonnay 2021

Robert Parker Score: 96+ points

Reviewer: Erin Larkin — July 2023 Week 16 Jul 2023

Drink 2023–2036

The 2021 Heytesbury Chardonnay is as Heytesbury usually is—complex, firmly textured, coastal and briny, with layers of flesh and spice folded in on the palate. The wine ages tremendously, and the release cycle really does it no favors, as the wine seems to come into its own several years after release. It really is a shame about commercial reality! You get salted white peach, brine, saltbush, green apple skins, tea leaves, graphite/pencil box, tobacco leaf and cilantro. It's a sensational wine, and it will be even better in time. It was fermented wild, matured for nine months in French oak barriques (56% new, the balance one to three years old) and settled for six months in tank thereafter. Super wine. Piercing. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.