2011 Fighting Gully Road Aquila

Jared Dixon of the Clunes Wine Store (NSW, Australia) alerted me to this very recent cellar addition. At $25, It's a mixture of Chardonnay (for 'melon and grapefruit'), Viognier (for 'apricot' and 'richness') and Petit Manseng (for 'exotic fruits … acidity and length'). Fighting Gully produce cool climate wines on Victoria's 'elevated Beechworth plateau', while the fruit for this wine was grown in the King and Alpine Valleys. It's a desirously pale, light gold in colour, like a traditional Chenin Blanc (in fact it has 3% Chenin), with nuts, pear and coconut in the perfume, and on the palate it's complex and textured, most likely because of the varietal mixture. Its taste is a cross between mustard linen and a worn mustard velvet. It would be good with a cashew nut, bok choy, snow pea stir fry. Aquila has 'eagle' in its meanings, and there is an outline of the great bird on the cream, textured, simple label, which uses a classic running-writing font.