97 pts James Suckling

#32 in Top 100 Wines of Australia, 2024. Sophisticated and polished aromas of flint, stone fruit, lemon curd and beeswax. The palate is medium-bodied with a creamy texture that is cut through with a laser-like acidity, giving notes of grapefruit rind, shortbread, orange blossoms and chalk. Exceptional poise and balance with underlying tension coming from a cool vintage. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

95 ptsWine AdvocateThe 2023 Chardonnay is precise and firm, with salty fruit and a spool of tense acidity that spirals through the finish. It’s very long and very good, although raw at this inchoate stage of its development. I love this wine each year. The saline thread of acidity really extends out through the finish, like casting a fishing rod over a still lake; the sound of the reel is akin to the extension of the acidity across the palate. The bouquet speaks so clearly of sage, salted cashews, green apple, white peach and pressed lavender. This is a beautiful wine, one that is tightly coiled at this stage. I’d recommend buying what you can but waiting another year or more to open the bottles, such is the potential here. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Our Note:Shimmering med(-) lemon-gold, vibrant with flecks of green.A pronounced, youthful nose that is slightly reduced at first (screwcap/stelvin sealed wines do this) with flinty struck match note, then as the wine warms up and opens the sweet lemons, lemon pith, green apple, saline, and crushed rock and chalky minerality, and the slightest note of vanilla bean and cream come to the fore. The flinty and struck match note is part of the reduction and fades out as the wine warms up and breathes. Medium bodied, bright and fresh med+ acidity,pronounced flavors are focused and dense, youthfully layered, finishesd long and layered. Great now, but will gain with a few years too.

Abv:13.5%
Acidity:7/g/L (pH: 3.2)
Soils:Light Silica over Sandstone
Vineyard:Guyot trained VSP, densely planted 1/1.5k vines/acre, Northeastern exposition first planted in1988
First vintage of this wine:2012

Winemaking: All fruit was hand-picked, whole bunch pressed, and fermented in French oak. 225/500L new to 3 years used barrels. The wine spent ten months in barrel with gentle stirring as required, then rested in tank on lees for a further four months. Full malolactic fermentation.

Growing Season:Our coolest season on record. Slightly unsettled flowering thanks to a wetter than average spring resulted in mild Hen and Chicken, giving a combination of small and normal sized berries, and much lighter bunches than normal. Low yields benefitted from drier conditions for the remainder of the ripening period, ensuring fruit was harvested in pristine condition. Will repay careful cellaring for up to 12 years.