Caught up with Tom Carson today, over lunch with him and Robin Davis of SWIG. He’s winemaker at Mornington Peninsula winery Yabby Lake, which is one of Australia’s new stars. We looked at the 2009 releases, which is the second vintage Tom has made, and the first where he’s been involved all through the growing season.

I think these are quite special wines. Just Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are made, in an exceedingly elegant, understated style. Tom aims at tight wines with low alcohol (the top Chardonnay is just 12%), and works with a range of clones (7 of Chardonnay, 10 of Pinot Noir) and lots of small vineyard blocks to fashion thoughtful, complex, elegant wines.

The entry level Red Claw wines are quite serious and very well priced. The Single Vineyard and Single Block wines (one of each for both varieties in the tricky 2009 vintage) both represent significant steps up in terms of intensity and focus. I really liked the Single Vineyard Pinot Noir and the Single Block Release Chardonnay, but all the wines are full of interest.

You can read more about Yabby Lake in this article I wrote last year.