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Let me see if I have this straight. You’re asking me to buy a $40 Chardonnay from Barbaresco made by an Australian? Yep! Trust me. I wouldn’t go to all the work of trying to if I didn’t think it was worth your while.

So... if you want to succeed in the parochial, hidebound wine biz in the Langhe region and you’re Australian, you’re going to have to work extra hard. I mean EXTRA hard. And if you then go and buy the old Barbaresco railway station and turn it into a winery, well, you’re definitely going to be under a microscope. In the Langhe, where even people from Milano are viewed as foreigners, there aren’t many people from the other side of the globe who can make a go of it. But David and Eleanor Fletcher were prepared. David came complete with a background in winemaking before falling magically under the spell of Nebbiolo. After completing a four-year enology degree at Adelaide University, David’s first stop was Burgundy, the motherland, where he found work making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Côte Chalonnaise. David then returned Down Under to take an assistant winemaker gig at a winery in the Yarra Valley that specialized in those grapes.

But, serendipitously, while attending a master class run by some Italian wine importers, everything changed. Smitten with what he tasted, in 2007, Dave left Oz for the Langhe where he landed a harvest gig at Ceretto, one of the region’s most recognized producers. After a few years of earning his stripes, David rose to became Ceretto’s director of red wine production overseeing a stunning renaissance at this iconic estate. That job continues to pay his bills but, with his wife Eleanor, his passion project in Barbaresco has become one of the area’s most watched. With deep respect and reverence for the region’s history, Dave has managed to weave himself into the fabric of this land and its people. Not only does the Ceretto family mentor the Fletchers, David and Eleanor have become fast friends with neighbor Pietro Colla and that connection has certainly helped push this small project in the right direction. While his Barbarescos are earning more and more of a strong reputation, it’s David’s tiny production of Chardonnay that has become one of the Langhe’s most coveted.

Sourced from two organically-farmed sites on limestone sand (like Burgundy), David expends a lot of effort to realize his vision of making an elegant, poised Chardonnay in the land of Nebbiolo. He laboriously harvests over numerous picks in order to maximize both acidity and ripeness and ferments the juice on its own yeast in small French oak barrels, 30% of which are new. He allows a portion of the wine to go through malolactic but aims for a brighter style with a lot of richness underneath. An effusive bouquet leads to hints of ripe tropical fruits and a mélange of lemon-citrus-verbena and a simply gorgeous, mineral finish. Fletcher’s Chardonnay, in just a few vintages, has taken its place right at the top of the Chardonnay pyramid in the Langhe alongside wines like Aldo Conterno’s exotic Bussia d’Or, the Grassos’ Educato and Pio Cesare’s Piodilei and is on every top wine list in the region. Chardonnay lovers of all kinds will love this sleek, flavorful wine that dances with Burgundy while wearing an Italian dress. With an Australian accent. This is a MUST TRY!