Chardonnays – Oz v the rest

The Australians are understandably fed up with all the criticism that their wines have attracted recently. A special feature of this year's generic tasting at the Saatchi Gallery in London was a blind tasting of Chardonnays, 40 Australian and 10 from very respectable addresses indeed in France, Italy, California, New Zealand and South Africa. What was particularly refreshing about this tasting was that wines selling for as little at £4.99 were mixed up with wines that command prices of £30 and more a bottle. I found the results very interesting indeed. They certainly confirmed the dramatic change in style of...