After last week’s uninspiring Mâcon-Villages, I’m pleased to report that this week’s wine, the Ad Hoc Hen & Chicken Chardonnay 2010 from WA’s Pemberton region, restored my faith that I would be able to find good Chardonnay in my $15-20 price bracket. I picked this wine up from a major national retailer, but the Ad Hoc website notes that the 2010 vintage is sold out.

On the nose the wine had some lemon notes with an obvious, but not overbearing, oak influence. There was some creaminess and the citrus was accompanied by some tropical fruit – think melon and even banana and mango.

All of this flowed through to the palate: plenty of lemon and good acidity mellowed to creaminess and tropical fruit. The best way to describe it was a mixture of pineapple and natural yoghurt. The wine had a lovely weight to it and reasonable length. It did strike me as being ever so slightly warm (the wine is 13.5% abv) but not enough to put me off.

Larry Cherubino, the winemaker, has four brands under his belt: Ad Hoc, The Yard, Cherubino and Laissez-Faire. He started his wine making career with Hardys and then Houghtons before setting up on his own in 2005.

The tasting notes for the 2010 give it a cellaring potential of up to 5 years. I guess we’re about half way through that and the wine is drinking beautifully. At $19 a bottle it puts last week’s effort to shame.