Penfolds, South Eastern Australia (Australia) Chardonnay 2019

 I used to be able to keep track of new releases of Penfolds wines more closely than during the past few years, so the superb quality of this wine snuck up on me as an extremely pleasant surprise.  The fruit was assembled from cool climate sites in Tasmania, the Adelaide Hills, and Tumbarumba (a high elevation vineyard in New South Wales).  That adds up to three different states when considering how Australia is federated, and states in Australia are mostly very, very big.  I doubt that any other wine producing nation’s culture could have led to an effort like this, and even within Australia, I’m not sure any company other than Penfolds would still go to the trouble — but thank heavens they did.  This is only a medium-bodied wine in terms of palate weight, but it is extremely expressive in both aroma and flavor, with lots of toasty, spicy, nutty oak driving the aromas, but showing much less wood influence on the palate, with bright acidity providing definition and drive through the finish.