2000 White Wines in South Australia

From the pattern of the previous ten vintages of Chapel Hill Unwooded Chardonnay, further bottle ageing gives graceful development of buttered toast characters and richness that will accompany more strongly flavoured dishes like chili crab and game birds.

Colour: Straw with green hues. Nose: Lemons, honey and floral. The aroma has good intensity, with some light, lime-like characteristics. Palate: The structure is clean and crisp with limey citrus flavours showing through. The aftertaste is refreshing with pleasant lemon flavours prevailing.

Displays subtle toasty oak with lifted citrus and melon flavours. An elegant wine of great finesse and style which makes the wine a great companion with delicately flavoured cuisines.

Distinctly varietal, exhibiting green/yellow hues, herbal and floral aromas and then tropical fruit salad (pineapple and mango). The palate is richly flavoured and smooth with length provided by its high natural acidity. The wine will age elegantly, maintaining its characteristic honey tones, eventually developing soft nuttiness.

A powerful sauvignon blanc packed with distinctive tropical fruit flavours, which continue from the bouquet on to the fresh, vibrant palate. This is an excellent sauvignon blanc which balances the quest for varietal definition with satisfying drinkability.

The colour here is slightly dull but the wine inside is a reasonable drop. Melon perfumes the fruit-driven nose, and there's a light seasoning of oak. In the mouth it's pleasant enough, easy and fruity with just a hint of wood. The palate pulls up a bit short but it finishes clean and dry. Try it with quick-fried calamari and chilli jam.

This is the fighting varietal in Tatachilla's chardonnay arsenal. It's a fairly basic wine, smelling nettly, dusty and lightly herbaceous. It's lightly weighted in the mouth and has some acid hardness. Food will help, so serve it with fish balls.

Bright and lively, pale gold in colour with green hues. Shows fragrance from the Sauvignon Blanc with gunpowder and hints of figs. Long fresh flavours of honeydew, balanced with lively lemons.

It's starting to show some early development but that's not a problem. It smells of lemon, herbs and grass/hay - very pleasant and well made - with semilion flavours predominating. It's light-bodied and smooth, and easy to enjoy right now, perhaps with spaghetti carbonara.

The nose has floral accents, but it's more winey and less 'pretty' than young riesling on its own. The palate has reasonable depth and straightforward flavour with moderate acidity. An everyday white with none of the fireworks (and none of the passion) of some mixed marriages. Try it with chicken schnitzel.

The nose has some light juicy aromas in a fruit-salady vein with a hint of herbaceousness. The palate has similar flavours which are rather one-dimensional with simple grapey character. It lacks a bit of generosity and finishes with slightly hard acidity.

The aromas are of lime and minerals that give a reasonable varietal impression, but the wine seems less intense than some previous examples. The palate is light and fresh with citrus flavour and a crisp finish. Serve it with fish and chips.

This is a fairly simple, basic but acceptable budget-priced chardonnay that relies on charred oak chips for its character. The palate is broad and plain, the flavour and slight astringency of wood tending to take centre-stage. It works okay with barbecued chicken burgers.

The nose reminds of slightly under ripe sauvignon blanc, with its green herb, bracken and capsicum notes. The taste is dry, straightforward, clean and a touch green, but perfectly acceptable at the price. There's a hint of a tannin grip to finish. Pair it with fried whitebait.

The nose displays fine Sauvignon Blanc varietal definition with a combination of gooseberries and green bananas being complemented by fragrant fresh basil and tomato vine characters. These flavours, evident on the palate, combine with white-fleshed nectarine to give stone-fruit flavour persistance. The palate is fresh, lifted and finishes cleanly with a lovely limey zest. The distinctive and attractive natural fruit characters of Sauvignon Blanc, Coonawarra’s outstanding white variety, have been retained in this piquant, unoaked, herbaceous wine.

There are some greenish aromas and some attendant hardness on the finish, which points to underripe fruit. But it also has some appeal, with creamy, nutty, vanilla aromas and a herbaceous, sauvignon-like edge. The palate has tangy acid and a fresh, tart, slightly green finish. Try it with asparagus and hollandaise.

Light to medium green-yellow; the bouquet is not intense, but does have a touch of complexity, suggesting that the wine may have been given some lees contact. A clean, simple palate, but well made and balanced, with gentle acidity on the finish.

The colour is medium-deep yellow, which reflects the advanced maturity of this wine. It is not your usual restrained style. The aromas remind of peach, melon jam and honeysuckle, and the wine is fairly broad and could do with more focus and finesse. There could be some botrytised fruit in it. It's a wine to drink now, not keep, and suits fish cakes.