Pike & Joyce Adelaide Hills "The Kay" Reserve Chardonnay 2023 - Adelaide Hills, Australia

92/100 Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion
95/100 Stuart Knox, The Real Review (2021 vintage)
Bronze - Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion (2021 vintage)
95/100 Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion (2020 vintage)
91/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2020 vintage)

5 Star - Halliday Wine Companion

Bronze - Adelaide Hills Wine Show
Bronze - Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Silver - Australian & New Zealand Boutique Wine Show (2021 vintage)
Bronze - Adelaide Hills Wine Show (2021 vintage)
Gold - Australian & New Zealand Boutique Wine Show (2020 vintage)
Silver - Adelaide Hills Wine Show (2020 vintage)
Bronze - Adelaide Hills Wine Show (2020 vintage)

Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion "The fruit is from Lenswood, Adelaide Hills. A potent white of power and presence, well balanced in its elements, trails long through the palate and feels evocatively of rich, elegant chardonnay in its profile. Scents of nougat, lime, ripe apple, nectarine and ginger. The flavour profile similar in its list of characters, slightly sinewy in texture with gingery and cinnamon spices, deep in concentration, refreshing, minerally acidity underlying. Lots of flavour now and should mellow nicely into honeyish, buttery complexity too."

Stuart Knox, The Real Review "Pale, bright straw-yellow colour. Green apple, white peach, roasting pork and seaspray on the nose. Bright and lively on entry but there’s an inherent power here that makes you take notice. Still in a primary phase, the fruit is grapefruit and peach, hints of smoky fat and a saline minerality are all showing in a tightly woven mesh of apple acidity. Carries great length and precision to the long, crisp finish. A pristine modern Australian chardonnay." (2021 vintage)

Australian & New Zealand Boutique Wine Show "lean and full of citrus, white flowers, bitter almond, pretty, lighter style, graceful, fine, different, subtle." (2021 vintage)

Australian & New Zealand Boutique Wine Show "delicate grapefruit, savoury oak. green apple fruit flavours. great balance and texture. drive." (2020 vintage)

Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion "A nicely captured, pristine chardonnay with a compact citrusy nose, grapefruit and nectarine with added barrel-ferment mealy complexity. Oak is integrated and taut throughout, finishing with a mango-skin tang." (2020 vintage)

Huon Hooke, The Real Review "Straw and cardboard savoury aromas, passionfruit and grapefruit later as it aired. A dab of sweetness on the mid-palate. A charming, fruity chardonnay with good intensity of grapefruit flavour that lasts and lasts." (2020 vintage)

Australian & New Zealand Boutique Wine Show "Toast flint apple/spice but gd/restrained. Full, nutty, flinty, lotsa flavour lotsa complexity." (2020 vintage)

Australian & New Zealand Boutique Wine Show "matchstick baked apple mid weight fine acid line classy fruit and oak handling juicy with nice fruit weight" (2020 vintage)

This is a partnership between the Pike family (of Clare Valley fame) and the Joyce family, related to Andrew Pike’s wife, Cathy.

The winery is situated in Lenswood, which is a subregion of the Adelaide Hills. The Adelaide Hills region is well-known for its cool climate, high-altitude vineyards, and diverse range of premium cool-climate wines.

The Joyce family have been orchardists at Lenswood for over 100 years and also have extensive operations in the Riverland. Together with Andrew they have established this vineyard site, which was previously apple and pear orchards, is characterized by steep North and East facing slopes and possesses fantastic gravelly clay and loam soils which are ideally suited to the classic cool climate varieties that have been planted – Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. to sauvignon blanc (5.9ha), pinot noir (5.73ha), pinot gris (3.22ha), chardonnay (3.18ha) and semillon (0.47ha). The wines are made at the Pikes’ Clare Valley winery and exported around the world.

The vineyard is all hand pruned and handpicked with the fruit being chilled overnight in the Joyce cool rooms. Traditional old world techniques as well as modern Australian winemaking are incorporated to produce a style which reflects the variety and region."

Pike & Joyce owns and operates vineyards covering around 32 hectares in the Lenswood area of Adelaide Hills. The vineyards are planted at varying altitudes, providing an excellent opportunity to grow a variety of grape varieties that thrive in the cool climate.

Chardonnay is one of the world’s most popular grapes, Chardonnay is made in a wide range of styles from lean, to rich, creamy white wines aged in oak. Bolder, richer, full-bodied and buttery Chardonnays are made using oak and are produced in California, Burgundy, and Australia. Unoaked chardonnays such as Chablis and those produced in Chile, New Zealand, and other parts of France are leaner and often crisp and minerally, with delicate flavors. By law, if a label says “Chablis,” it must be Chardonnay.

Chardonnay has been grown in Italy for decades, and it's become the fourth most-planted white wine grape in the country. The best Italian Chardonnay is found in the northern part of the country - the Piedmont - where the climate is similar to regions in France. However, if you know Chardonnay, you know that this versatile grape can be grown almost anywhere. Good Chardonnay can be found in places as diverse as Umbria, Sicily, Asti, and Tuscany.