Hard work bears fruit and these four easy-drinking chardonnays

If winemaker Aaron Mercer knew how steep the climb would be to establish a successful boutique winery, he would have never taken the first steps.

Five years ago, Aaron and wife Alison established their own Hunter Valley wine venture, keen to apply decades of global winemaking experience but do it their way. To say it takes up most of their waking moments would probably be an understatement.

“I look back with hindsight at when we started and would I do it again? Absolutely not,” Mercer says. “Not if I knew how hard it was going to be. But having done it, I wouldn’t do anything else.”

The Mercer Wines Limited Release Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2022 is part of this week’s special dozen offer from The Australian Wine Club featuring four premium chardonnays, including two 95-pointers. (One wine has an RRP of $70 but our average bottle price is far lower in this exclusive offer – see below.)

Mercer’s chardonnay sits very comfortably in this company, reward for the toil involved in creating and delivering a wine brand of your own.

Mercer was no stranger to the world of wine, having worked at Hunter icons such as Tyrrell’s and Brokenwood, as well as in France, Germany and California. He knew that for his wines to make an impact among brands with longer histories and far bigger marketing budgets, he would have to step outside the square. And when you’re the owner, operator and chief bottle-washer, it means you’re also the chief spruiker.

Mercer estimates he spent $10,000 on hotel rooms last year on a mission to spread the word of what makes his wines stand out, and to explain how he has tried to think beyond the cyclical demands of sourcing fruit, making wines and taking them to market.

The key is in making what he terms “craft wine”, appealing to consumers whose desire for handmade and localised products has driven the surge in craft beer and spirits

“What’s exciting is seeing a sector where consumer preferences are changing,’’ he says. “We’ve seen the impact that craft spirits and prior to that craft beer have had, and I think that these days the consumer wants something different.

“For us, that can also dovetail with a more sustainable wine future where not only are we concerned about our agriculture practices today but we also ask the question of what grapes we should have in the ground in 20 or 30 years from now.”

The essence of it, he says, is to find ways of making wine – and choose what wines to make – that are good for the environment but also a product of it.

“I was thinking about an article I read a few years ago, and the idea of an English high street, and there was a tailor or a shoemaker and a butcher or whatever else – we don’t have that so much anymore – we just go to the supermarket,” Mercer says.

“But craft spirits, craft wine or beer can be the last one standing in a sense, and wine is the only one of those with direct links to agriculture and place.

“We have a genuine link to a bit of dirt and I think that’s why wine is particularly interesting, and we are certainly among the last of those craftspeople still around and telling our story. I think that’s a pretty compelling thought.”

Mercer Wines Limited Release Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2022

Sourced from cool-climate Tumbarumba, on the western edge of the Snowy Mountains. Hints of green in the lemony-straw hue hint at the depth to come. Breathe it in and the lemon is there too, in happy company with stone fruit and ginger, and offset by wafts of struck match and toasty oak. The palate is all about the creaminess, full of late-summer stone fruit and a wash of lemon curd. 92 points, Halliday Wine Companion. 12.5% alc, RRP $50 a bottle.

SPECIALS $39.99 a bottle in any dozen, $25.99 a bottle in our Summer Chardonnay dozen.

Margan White Label Timbervines Hunter Valley Chardonnay 2021

Golden to the eye, this a chardy born to sip with food. There’s a punnet of stone fruit on the nose but edged with a flinty, nutty undertone and vanilla from the oak. On the tongue the balance is impressive thanks to a crisp acidity and enough texture to deliver a generous mouthfeel, offering up the intensity of dried apricots. 95 points, Halliday Wine Companion. 12% alc, RRP $70 a bottle.

SPECIALS $55.99 a bottle in any dozen, $25.99 a bottle in our Summer Chardonnay dozen.

Dandelion Vineyards Twilight of the Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2022

The nose and the palate sing with the good things of summer – peach and rockmelon on first sniff, with a healthy dose of salinity, a hint of vanilla oak and the freshness of green apple. There’s a zestiness on the tongue with the melon and apple flecked with notes of lemon rind. Good texture and a long finish. 95 points and gold medal, Melbourne International Wine Show. 12.5% alc, RRP $27.50 a bottle.

SPECIALS $23.99 a bottle in any dozen, $25.99 a bottle in our Summer Chardonnay dozen.

West Cape Howe Styx Gully Great Southern Chardonnay 2023

A wine with hints of green and gold in the glass just shouts “summer in Australia”, especially with a bracing note of seaspray around the citrus and lemon scents on the nose. Sunshiny fruits dominate a rich and delicious palate, with melon, more citrus and a hint of nectarine. The oak is toasty, the finish long and the balance just lovely. 12.5% alc, RRP $36 a bottle.

SPECIALS $29.99 a bottle in any dozen, $25.99 a bottle in our Summer Chardonnay dozen.

SUMMER CHARDONNAY DOZEN Three bottles of each wine above for $25.99 a bottle. SAVE $238.

Order by simply clicking the links to our online store or telephone 1300 765 359 Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm AEST. Deals are available only while stocks last. The Australian Wine Club is a commercial partnership with Laithwaites Wine, LIQP770016550. Stockhead is partnering with The Australian Wine Club on this offer.