Clover Hill Exceptionelle

Clover Hill's multi-vintage Exceptionnelle blends 59% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 6% Meunier from the estate's Lebrina vineyard in Tasmania's Pipers River country, with reserve wines kept under four different preservation techniques to layer in complexity. Light straw-green with a fine, energetic bead; citrus and stone fruit aromas run to lemon curd, red apple, crushed sea shell and almond paste, and the palate is tight and bright with a stony, savoury edge and a long, dry finish. Drink now or cellar five to ten years.

Clover Hill was planted in 1986 on a 66-hectare property at Lebrina, looking out over Bass Strait. The vines sit in a sheltered, north-facing amphitheatre on red, rocky volcanic soil, one to five metres deep and scattered with basalt stone. Autumn days reach 25 degrees and nights fall to 10, and harvest runs from early April into late May. That slow, cool ripening keeps the acid line fine.

Chardonnay takes up 16.5 hectares, Pinot Noir eight, and Pinot Meunier under one. The first wine, a 1991 Blanc de Blancs, was Chardonnay alone. Chief winemaker Robert Heywood has built the multi-vintage style since 2019. He picks fruit block by block for row direction, altitude, soil depth and mesoclimate. Taltarni in Victoria's Pyrenees is the sister winery.

Serve it well chilled with oysters, or with fish and chips on the beach.