Aussie Whites

97+ Points - Stuart McCloskey

More intense, open-knit and richly textured compared to the 2015 although, both vintages are matched by their exquisite balance. The wines aromatics (honeyed citrus fruits, waves of minerals and a little maritime note) unfold with 20 minutes in a decanter (advised for ultimate satisfaction). The palate is medium to full-bodied, ripe and endlessly long. The play between textured weight and acidity is fantastic – A perfect marriage of cohesion and completeness. Given my experiences with mature Eileen Hardy Chardonnay’s, the ’14 is difficult to pin down to specific flavours. This wine is more to do with sensation as the palate feel is incredible. I do feel the 2015 has the slight edge and will become one of their best vintages over the past three decades however, there is something irresistibly special about the 2014.

97 Points - James Halliday

97 Points - James Halliday "This wine breaks all the accepted rules/wisdom. Hand-picked, whole bunch-pressed, barrel-fermented in used barrels; matured for 11 months with some lees stirring; once bottled it is held for 18 months' further maturation. Glowing straw-green; it is a truly remarkable wine, with rapier-like intensity and prodigious length to its display of nectarine, gooseberry and citrus before the flinty acidity on its finish. 280 dozen made."

17 Points - Julia Harding (JancisRobinson.com) "Winemaker Stuart Pym was founder/winemaker at Stella Bella. Importer Vinorium have snaffled all the Flowstone library stock. But volumes are very small. Extremely smoky and reductive – flinty more than struck match. Dog Point Section 94 style with excellent freshness and intensity. Drive and length and complexity in that reductive style and deliciously fresh on the long finish. Complex but no loss of vibrancy."

95 Points - James Halliday 

From a single vineyard in Karridale, whole berries pressed to old barriques and a 600l demi-muid for 11 months with lees stirring. Green-gold; a barrel-fermented sauvignon blanc that challenges normal beliefs and practises, made possible by the quality of the grapes. It marries honeyed richness and complexity, honey and crystallised grapefruit skin with dancing acidity.

Made in a semidried, Vin Santo style where the grapes are handpicked at optimum ripeness and acid balance, they are then placed on racks and dried before crushing and fermenting. This wine has no botrytis or fortification. Sublimely sweet and rich, bursting with pure pear, pineapple and cream aromas and flavours. A refined acid structure balances the sweetness to give a lingering, velvety finish.

Steven Spurrier - “Eileen Hardy Chardonnay is, in my view, the Grange of Australian white wines”.

98 Points - Stuart McCloskey "Less expressive than some 2015’s however, decanting for thirty minutes to an hour and serving in a large Burgundy glass brings this wine alive. The wine is silky, graceful with mouth-coating waves of life affirming minerality. Real breadth and depth here with a laser-like focus. I love the juicy yellow stone fruits and spices. I imagine this will be utterly spectacular in another 6-8 years. It is the nectar of the Aussie Gods and would shame many a white Burgundy at double the price. I recommend drinking this stupendous wine from now to 2028 and beyond (in good cellar conditions)."

97 Points - James Halliday

The wine lives up to its reputation as one of Australia's greatest chardonnays, and you wonder why it isn't more frequently mentioned in dispatches. The answer is at least partly due to the very small amounts judged by Petaluma to be up to the strict standards set. Grapefruit leads the superb flavours of the palate, white peach in close attendance. The acidity is precise, the oak merely a means to an end.

97+ Points Stuart McCloskey 

Sharply focused, linear with a vibrancy which I wasn’t expecting. The floral character comes to the fore which compliments the nashi pear, peach, melon and suggestion of jasmine brilliantly. The palate is expansive with swathes of buttered citrus fruits underpinned with a core of minerals. I’ll be brutally honest, I was expecting a voluptuous Barossa bombshell. Instead, I received an unexpected balancing act between litheness and precision which is extremely impressive. This is one of those rare wines which floats on the palate but delivers to every millimetre.  Drinking beautifully now (decant for 20 mins) but will cellar for 8-10 years."