2017 Brash Higgins BLOOM
2017 Brash Higgins BLOOM

2017 Brash Higgins BLOOM

Brash Higgins |McLaren Vale |Chardonnay
One of the rarest and most sought after releases from this McLaren Vale legend. Beyond complex, this aged-under-flor homage to Jura is Chardonnay to expand your mind.
Price:
$145.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

A super rare wine both in the quantity and frequency of the release, in fact we have received less than a dozen bottles in as many years.

Bloom takes its, rather beautiful, name from the flor that 'blooms' over the surface of the wine during its extended aging process. It's a nod to the 'sous voile' style of Jura but this is a distinctly Australian wine.

There is a core of ripe citrus and orchard fruit, typical of McLaren Vale Chardonnay, but here the typicity stops. Curry leaf, honey, smoke, iodine, salt and grilled nuts make it a unique mouthful of wonderfully complex deliciousness.

Show it off to your friends or hide in the shed and drink it all yourself... only you can make that call.

The 2017 BLOOM, our fourth incarnation since the original 2008 version, is a slowly aged Chardonnay made in a style inspired by the “sous voile”, or “under-the-veil”, oxidative methods found in France’s Jura and Burgundy region. Here, McLaren Vale Chardonnay from the sandy Blewitt Springs sub-region has been matured for seven years in selected white Burgundy barrels (7), periodically adding some fresh white wine to feed the ‘flor’ (flower) or (veil) growing as a natural, healthy protective barrier of yeast on the wine’s surface. The last five years the barrels were turned on their side to prevent any tampering (mainly to keep the winemaker from drinking it) and to completely seal the bung air tight. No topping was done during this final ageing period. We aged the wine in a steel tank for an additional 6 months in our cold cellar before bottling this winter.

Only a limited number of bottles of this dry, quixotic white wine were made.

2008, 2012 and 2015 were the previous vintages.

“Golden in hue, the wine’s nose is redolent of Calvados, toffee apples, vanilla bean, cooked honey, and even whiffs of Cragganmore 12 year whisky come to mind. Liquor glazed desserts like Bananas foster and rum baba and frangipane galette, yuzu, ripe citrus/pear and baked apple coupled with lively sea spray and nutty whiffs. Focused entry with moderate palate weight, parmesan crust, butterscotch and preserved lemon; the wine tightens as it flows across the tongue which dials up the wine’s salinity on the back end.”-Brad Hickey, Vinitor, 12 August 2024.

88 points - "It’s got quite a bit of white balsamic tang and lift, some buttery notes, lemon oil, odd custard and eggy elements. Flavours and scents the same. I don’t see a lot of easy pleasure in flavour for me, or the greasy, soft texture, almost creamy, with a bite of that balsamic lift in the mix. There’s a personality clash on hand. It’s far away from the metered and intense versions of Jura it perhaps aspires to. For me, discombobulated and just not finding the right zone. There’s some interest and pleasure here but it just seems to miss. Still, a glass, sure, settle in and enjoy the interest." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

Brash Higgins

Brash Higgins is the label of winemaking American-turned-honorary-Aussie, Brad Hickey.

In his former life, Hickey was one of America's top sommeliers, working for many years crafting some of New York's finest wine lists. He came to Australia and fell in love with McLaren Vale and local vigneron Nicole Thorpe, with whom he now produces highly characterful, minimalist wines from their much loved Omensetter vineyard.

Hickey's wines are extremely expressive. They fall in two camps - the wines sourced from Omensetter vineyard and those sourced from friends around the Vale and the warm, dry Riverlands.

Brad Hickey AKA Brash Higgins - McLaren Vale, SA Brash Higgins

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