Brand’s Laira 2016 Blockers Chardonnay, $25
In the heart of Coonawarra’s famous terra rossa strip, Brand’s Laira is an iconic winery that is dripping with heritage. In the mid 1900s, Coonawarra landholders who sold their grapes to larger wineries were known as “blockers”. That’s where the name for this Chardonnay comes from, as the winery’s founder, Eric Brand, was one of the original “blockers”. There’s a lot of history in the bottle here. This is a nicely complex Chardonnay, not one of those one-dimensional unoaked numbers that are all too common. It has rich flavours of melon, stonefruit and citrus, with a little nuttiness and a lovely creaminess. Such a versatile variety, you could enjoy it with almost anything.
