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Awards, Ratings & Reviews
Robert Parker – The Wine Advocate
95/100
2023 Vintage · Tasted: Nov 2024 · When to drink: 2024–2036
Jane Faulkner – Halliday Wine Companion 2025
95/100
2023 Vintage
“While the Tuerong single-site wine is the pick from this vintage, The Eleven is very, very good. It offers citrus blossom and spice plus lemon meringue. A pure wine enveloped in racy acidity, but there’s a slip of texture, plus a light layering of creamy lees with a lemon-saline tang on the finish – so there’s a lot of refreshment. This will build more complexity in time, yet it's fabulous now.”
Steve Leszczynski – Qwine
95/100
2023 Vintage
“Texture aplenty, The Eleven 2023 carries a little more weight compared to its Tuerong sibling… It's an excellent wine that will reward for many years yet.”
Erin Larkin – The Wine Advocate
95/100
2023 Vintage
“The 2023 The Eleven Chardonnay is silky and nutty, with soft leaf herbs, tart acidity and a profusion of white flesh orchard fruits. The P58 Chardonnay clones were planted in 1986, and the streamlined phenolic profile of the clone is on show here. The juicy, zingy acidity is a real highlight. Smart wine.”
Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front
94/100
2023 Vintage
“This release smells and tastes of popcorn and pears, citrus and white peach, though perfectly integrated cedarwood oak plays a positive role too. There are cashew notes here as well, and it all feels juicy and generous, in a well mannered way. This will likely add another string or two to its bow as it ages but really, it’s singing a fine song now, and is already ripe for drinking.”
About This Wine
The Eleven Chardonnay is sourced from a single vineyard planted in 1986, located directly in front of the Montalto cellar door on the Mornington Peninsula. The site consists of just eleven rows of Chardonnay, planted to clone P58.
Whole bunch pressing is used, with no SO₂ added until bottling, resulting in oxidative juice handling throughout vinification. Following wild fermentation and natural malolactic fermentation, the wine is matured on lees in French oak barriques, with 27.3% new oak, and aged for 11 months prior to blending and bottling.
About the Winery
Montalto was established by John Mitchell and family in 1998, with the core vineyard plantings dating back to 1986. The estate is located on the Mornington Peninsula and is planted to pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling, shiraz, tempranillo and sauvignon blanc.
The vineyards are managed with intensive canopy work and yields of 3.7–6.1 tonnes per hectare. Wines are released across three ranges: the flagship Single Vineyard wines, Montalto Estate wines and Pennon Hill. Montalto also leases several external vineyards across the Peninsula, providing a broad range of clones and sites.
Montalto acknowledges that the estate is located on the lands and waters of the Bunurong / Boon Wurrung people, members of the Kulin Nation, and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
Specifications
- Vintage: 2023
- Grape Variety: Chardonnay
- Region: Mornington Peninsula / Victoria / Australia
- Fermentation: Wild fermentation in French oak barriques
- Maturation: 11 months in French oak (27.3% new), lees aged
- Production Attributes: Whole bunch pressed; wild ferment; natural malolactic fermentation
- Alcohol: 13%
- Sweetness: Dry
