First Creek Hunter Valley Chardonnay 2015

We all accumulate stuff - books, records, candelabras...whatever. Every house needs just one more shelf. Liz Silkman is the same with silverware. She'd already been gathering the gongs before 2015, when her First Creek wines garnered 30 awards in one year alone! That's two-and-a-half per month, or one every twelve days. That's more often than your humble scribe goes to the pub! Could she even pop out to lunch without coming home with a trophy?

In deference to her shelving problems, Oddbins hereby awards Liz the Wandsworth Chardonnay Eggcup for services rendered to immaculately oaked, fresh white wine which expresses consummately its varietal characteristics. Might be at the engravers for a while, though...

The Hunter Valley, in New South Wales just 100 miles or so north of Sydney, is not one of Australia's the more obvious winemaking regions.

This Chardonnay won four trophies at the 2015 Royal Brisbane Wine Show, including Best Chardonnay and Best White Wine. It also took top place at the 2015 James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge. Barrel-fermented at low temperature with eight months lees ageing in French hogsheads, this has complex aromas of citrus and stone fruit backed with gentle, toasty oak. The wine would be perfect with shellfish and white meats.