Chardonnay

18 Points - Raymond Chan "Bright straw-yellow colour with some depth, lighter on the edge. The nose is softly full and gently up-front and voluminous with aromas of yellow stonefruits in an amalgam with white peaches and a subtle mealy and nutty overlay. Medium-full bodied, the palate is stylishly up-front with flavours of ripe yellow stonefruits and peaches with nutty and savoury mineral interest. The mouthfeel has fruit richness lending rounded textures and plenty of presence. The wine flows positively along a fine phenolic line leading to a lingering dry finish of stonefruits, nuts and mealy detail. This is an elegantly rich, up-front Chardonnay with ripe stonefruit, nutty and mealy flavours with good weight, a rounded mouthfeel and a dry finish. Match with poultry, pork and veal over the next 3+ years. Hand-picked Kumeu fruit, WBP and indigenous yeast fermented, 75% in tank and 25% in seasoned oak to 13.5% alc., the wine given extended lees aging, undergoing 100% MLF"

 Decanter World Wine Awards: Bronze 2017

90 Points - Luis Gutierezz (erobertparker.com)

The just-bottled, screw-capped 2016 Felino Chardonnay was quite impressive. It's now produced exclusively with grapes grown in the Valle de Uco and was cropped from an unusual wet and cold growing season. It fermented with indigenous yeasts with full malolactic, with 15% of the volume put into neutral French oak barrels and bottled seven months after the harvest. It's very fresh and varietal, with a nose that mixes white flowers and fruit and a balsamic twist. The palate is fresh and sharp, elegant with very clean flavors, showcasing the minerality of the soils. Is this the finest Felino Chardonnay to date?

This fruit driven unoaked Chardonnay has been produced using premium grapes from the Margaret River region. The wine exhibits the classic varietal Chardonnay aromas of peaches and citrus. On the palate, vibrant notes of stone fruit are complemented by fresh grapefruit characters and a creamy, nutty soft finish.

90 Points - Antonio Galloni "The highlight in this range from Foxglove, the 2014 Chardonnay packs a serious punch for the money. Bright, juicy and exuberant, the Foxglove Chardonnay will thrill readers looking for a budget-priced Chardonnay. Lemon peel, white flowers and mint meld together in a rich, beautifully layered Chardonnay long on class. Aging in steel and blocked malolactic fermentation keep the flavors bright, but there is no shortage of depth or intensity. This is a fabulous wine, especially considering its modest price."

95 Points - James Halliday

There is definite synergy in the blend, even it if it's the Yarra Valley that provides most of the flavour and the glue; grapefruit is in the driving seats, but there's a special texture to the mouthfeel, part fruit, part oak-derived.

**Available for delivery August 2019**

Featured in Langton's 'Top Six': The Best wines of 2018

95 Points - James Halliday "This is Wickhams Road's twin playing games with you, for there is that little bit more of every facet of Wickhams Road present in this wine, even its colour is that little bit greener. It's the extra dimension of the faintly reductive aftertaste that draws me back for more."

92 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Winefront "White peach, custard powder, more spritely stuff like lemon zest and green olive, perhaps a touch of spice. Light and fresh, some lactic/cheese flavour and stalks, with fine acidity and chalk dust texture, and a savoury finish of good length. It’s a good release, though perhaps a bit different in style this vintage."

**Available for delivery August 2019**

93+ Points - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front) "Juicy and peachy, spiced oatmeal, fennel and a little stuck match. It’s flavoursome with ripe pear and nectarine flavour, flinty texture, an appealing grapefruit cut to the acidity, and a long, well-defined chalky finish. Feel the quality of quiet confidence. It’s a great thing to drink even as a young wine, though a couple of years will help it along too."

92 points - James Halliday 

Gold Medal - 2018 Melbourne International Wine Competition
Gold Medal – 2017 Wine Show of Western Australia
Silver Medal – 2017 Perth Royal Wine Show

96 Points – James Halliday Wine Companion 2016 "Small batch-fermented in French oak (18.5% new) on lees for 7 months with light battonage. The combination of high quality cool grown grapes and sensitive winemaking has produced this lovely chardonnay, the first release of a chardonnay in the Senses range. Delicacy teams with intensity (an oxymoron if ever there was one), grapefruit, white peach and nectarine the drivers, not the oak."

**Available for delivery August 2019**

96 Points - James Halliday "Absolutely nails all that is good about Margaret River chardonnay. Bright grapefruit and white peach fruit glide along a palate with great mouthfeel from its fruit, acidity and touches of grilled cashew nuts. Nothing wasted here, nothing included without need. 13% alc."

95 Points – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

What a wonderful Chardonnay. White peach and grapefruit, oatmeal and struck match, tight tracks of gleaming acidity, and a bullet of juicy but restrained flavour racing down them. A little flintiness. Some cashew creaminess. A tight and mouth-watering limey finish that makes you eye the level of the glass too often, and fret over it. You’d be mad not to.

94 Points - James Halliday

Handpicked Dijon clones 95 and 96 from a single vineyard at Karridale, whole bunch-pressed, wild fermentation and 11 months maturation in French barriques (20% new), plus 30 months in bottle. 360 dozen made. Trembles on the brink of unripeness, but is pulled back by the complexity built into the wine. Will always be Corton or Chablis, not Meursault or Montrachet.

97+ Points Stuart McCloskey "My third bottle and my opinion has not changed. An ineffably complex bouquet which builds and builds with more aeration in the glass. Emphatically, mineral-dominated, which combine perfectly with Amalfi lemon peel and orchard fruits (quince). The palate is full of energy, exhilarating, tightly coiled and perfectly balanced. The wine is chiselled, builds slowly and would benefit from decanting. Richness does not come in the form of fruit. Instead, the wine's fullness comes in the form of texture (phenolic weight) which is undeniably attractive (a nod to the painstaking work carried out in the vineyard). Wet stones wash across my palate but it’s the salinity which I love and sets this New Zealand Chardonnay apart from all the others. There’s a killer line of acidity which will ease with more time in the bottle. Wonderfully alive, memorable and a breathtaking wine. Wow! Served in Zalto Bordeaux glassware." Drink now to 2026

97 Points - Stuart McCloskey “Reductive with aromas still very much in development. That said, this impeccably made wine is centred around textural elegance, satiny structure, mid-palate depth and an effortless sense of cohesion. Decanting for a short while is essential as the oxygenation takes it from the ordinary to immensely appealing. Layer upon layer of fruit and white flowers harmonises beautifully with oatmeal and a beautiful vein of minerality. This is more tensile, finer than many, which adds an intellectual quality found with high-quality Burgundy. This is a superb Chardonnay from one of New Zealand's leading producers. I recommend a drinking window from now to 2025 but would not be surprised to this peak beyond 10 years.. Sampled in Zalto Bordeaux glassware and comes highly recommended”.

**Available for delivery August 2019**

Halliday Wine Companion Awards - Best New Winery of The Year 2019

Fruit from a single vineyard in the Derwent Valley over two picks (12.0 and 12.8 Baume), whole bunch pressed to oak (20% new), fermented with Sauvage yeast (60%) and natural yeast (40%), underwent partial malolactic fermentation while maturing on lees ageing for 6 months. Bottled unfined and filtered.

Full tasting note to follow...

96 Points - James Halliday

From a single vineyard in Karridale, the southernmost and coolest part of Margaret River; hand-picked, whole bunch-pressed, fermented in French oak (15% new), with natural mlf; 11 months in oak with occasional lees stirring; after bottling cellared for 30 months prior to release. Still pale, bright straw-green; the bouquet has a nutty complexity to the core of pink grapefruit, the palate a bright replay of the bouquet except for the racy, minerally acidity.

96 Points - James Halliday

96 Points - James Halliday

94 Points - Bob Campbell MW

The first Bilancia Chardonnay I have tasted. Fruit from La Collina vineyard and Bridge Pa Triangle. Indigenous yeast and 15 months in oak without fining or cold stabilisation. Attractive, elegant chardonnay with tight citrus, mineral, struck flint and savoury yeast lees and spicy oak flavours. A classy chardonnay with development potential.

David Schildknecht (robertparker.com) "The Eyrie 2011 Chardonnay – harvested October 26 – is dominated by bright, juicy grapefruit and lime tinged with their piquant pips as well as with saliva-liberating salinity. Straight and penetrating as an arrow; amazingly buoyant (but then, there’s only 11.7% alcohol!); refreshing yet richly lees-inflected, this wine’s textural allure and length would be unlikely, I contend, in a Chardonnay that had not gone through malo-lactic conversion and whose malic acid was likely to coarsen and mask fruit and finer points. And anybody who imagines that this conversion is incompatible with a vivaciously and bracingly high acidity and low pH – not to mention with clarity of flavors – just needs to let the wine in question serve as a delicious counterexample! A streak of salinity serves to enhance the mouthwateringly sustained and invigorating finish. This outstanding value is apt to remain riveting through at least 2020 – a prognostication I venture with plenty of track record to back it up."

Gold Medal - 2015 National Wine Show of Australia

96 points - Stuart McCloskey

I was curious to sample the ’05 as I am not a huge fan of sparkling Rosé. A beautiful copper colour with cranberries, red stone fruits, sweet raspberry, orange peel and a little rosewater. In fact, the wine builds with endless layers and has the structure (as with the entire Arras range) of great, Grand Cru Champagne. There’s no holding back with this wine – It’s been released to be relished. There’s real depth and a density on show which takes this Rosé to the head of the class and deservedly so. I could imagine a dozen grilled, Loch Linnhe langoustines partnered with a chilled bottle of the ’05. Simply, heaven.

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 - James Halliday

97 Points - James Halliday "A tiny 0.37ha interplanted with Bernard/Dijon and Gin Gin clones on south-facing deep silver grey sands. Wild fermented in new and used oak. Pale straw-green; highly fragrant/perfumed, palate fine and intense; minerally aftertaste. 13% alc, screwcap. Drink to 2030.

Acclaimed Margaret River winemaker Julian Langworthy and wife Alana are turning heads with their own boutique label, Nocturne. This Chardonnay is their take on the famous regional style, with great success. Born and raised in the region Julian has developed close relationships with some of Margaret River's finest growers, with this Chardonnay coming from a single vineyard in Treeton, planted to some of the region's best-suited clones. In the hands of Julian, this fruit absolutely sings. It's a polished version of Margaret River Chardonnay with ample weight whilst maintaining and elegant balance. This is an exciting new addition to the Margaret River Chardonnay landscape.

  Decanter World Wine Awards 2019 Platinum

 Decanter World Wine Awards 2017 Gold

  International Wine & Spirit Competition Gold 2017

Gold Medal – 2017 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships
Trophy Best Sparkling- 2018 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 
Trophy Best Sparkling White - 2018 Sydney Royal Wine Show
96 points & James Halliday's annual Top 100 wines 2018

97 Points - Decanter "Fresh and alive! Rich and weighted with ripe pineapple, orange skin, slight brioche and shortbread characters. Creamy and textured on the palate with brisk acidity and a persistent finish."

This Chardonnay for the Awakening range has been produced using handpicked fruit from the Watershed Estate vineyard. The wine exhibits intense aromas of citrus and stone fruit accompanied with notes of spice and roasted cashew nuts. On the palate, the dense creamy texture is complemented by grapefruit and mineral notes followed by a long nutty finish.

UK Exclusivity

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

98+ Points - Stuart McCloskey “A stunning bouquet offering a profusion of aromatics ranging from vanilla, lemon zest, Seville orange marmalade, wet limestone to maritime salinity and finishing with freshly grated, spicy ginger. The wine has put on some weight with a lovely silky textural feel, but far from viscous. Harmonious and exquisitely judged to be succinct. Flavours are more difficult to pin down at this stage, but one thing is certain, it’s effortless and washes across my palate with consummate ease. I love the spice, salinity – very maritime which changes with more aeration. Fascinating is the wine's development in the glass. As I mentioned in my previous notes - This would shame many white Burgundies at double the price. This is simply a beautiful Chardonnay which offers more potential for those with patience. Just magnificent and for me, the best Chardonnay in our portfolio. The value is unbelievable. I recommend drinking this superb wine from now to 2028. Sampled using Zalto Bordeaux glassware” Tasted 9 May, 2019

**Available for delivery August 2019**

95 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Winefront

This is swish. Straw-yellow in colour, stone fruit riddled, shy on the nose but textural and alive on the palate. A gentle creaminess, spice notes, slate even, honeysuckle and toast. Extremely pure. Flowing robes of flavour. Grapefruit-like bite to the aftertaste, as a distinct positive. It’s still gathering itself but already it’s a treat to drink. A beautiful, beautiful wine.

96 Points - James Halliday

The second (1.3 tonnes) vintage from the home block, hand-picked, whole bunch-pressed, fermented in French barriques (50% new, 50% 1yo), matured for 18 months, plus a further 24 months in bottle, 90 dozen made. A beautifully detailed wine, all its components perfectly lined up, flowing seamlessly across the palate, stone fruit tempered by just-so citrussy acidity, the oak absorbed.

95 Points - Bob Campbell

First release of a new Marlborough chardonnay. Full-flavoured, with salty, briny, citrus, toasty yeast lees and spicy oak flavours. Lively, tangy wine with a pleasing texture and lengthy finish. Intensity and power suggest good cellaring potential. Clearly one to watch 

91 Points - Luis Gutierrez (erobertparker.com) "The 2015 Bramare Chardonnay Marchiori Vineyard was sourced from 19-year-old vines in the Marchiori Vineyard in Perdriel, Luján de Cuyo. The hand-harvested clusters were pressed and the juice fermented with indigenous yeasts, with spontaneous malolactic and an élevage of one year in 50/50 new and used French oak barrels. This is always a ripe Chardonnay with pit fruit and yellow flower aromas, hints of honey and beeswax. The palate is round and lush, with nice ripe fruit and very tasty flavors."

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.

Halliday Wine Companion  Awards
'The Best of the Best': Varietal Winners - Best Chardonnay 2019

98 Points - James Halliday Top 100 2017 

97 Points - James Halliday

From the home vineyard at Forest Grove planted '04, hand-picked, whole bunch-pressed, fermented in French oak (50% new), mlf, matured for 18 months, plus a further 24 months in bottle. I'll bet every vine receives personal attention; as each year passes, the style of the Flowstone wines becomes more clearly marked. Here it is the depth and texture of the fruit, mlf and oak in measured support for each other that establishes the special quality the wine has (not to mention 2 years cellar maturation).

  Decanter WWA 2017: Platinum: Best NZ Chardonnay

 International Wine Challenge: Silver 2017

97 Points - Bob Campbell 

**Available for delivery August 2019**

97 Points - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front) "Struck match, lime, grapefruit, almonds, chicken stock, flickers of cool green. Fine and composed, surges through the mouth, grips on tight, and doesn’t let go. So long. Flint, chalk, crunch, texture, subtle bitterness. It’s all here. It’s very Adult Chardonnay. Racy. A nudge and wink to those in-the-know. Outstanding."

96 Points - James Halliday "Bright straw-green; the complex bouquet has a positive touch of funk, as does the palate, but it's here that all the parts of the wine are fused together. The seamless flow of white peach, melon and grapefruit is given context by delicate cashew oak and fine acidity."

94 Points - James Halliday "Promotes itself (on the back label) as rich with butterscotch and French oak but it's more refined than it makes out. Better to over- than under-deliver in this regard. It's slightly backward and enclosed but there's power here, coiled, green melon and white peach, oatmeal and toasty oak keeping a close eye. It will venture out in its own sweet time."

**Available for delivery August 2019**

95 points - Campbell Mattison (The Winefront) "Fabulous chardonnay. The cup runneth over. Slick, spritely, satiny and sustained. There’s flavour, there’s finesse, there’s a flourish to the finish. Lemon, lime, a sorbet-like aspect, nectarine and white peach, with a classy clip of spicy-sweet cedarwood oak. There’s almost a bacony aspect here, a smoked meat note, rosemary even, though it’s exquisitely pure of fruit. Potential for positive development is huge."

New single block wine for Hoddles Creek Estate. Originally the block was planted to Sauvignon Blanc, then pulled out and replanted with the Mendosa clone of Chardonnay on 101-14 rootstock. Different style to the Estate Chardonnay, 1ER and Syberia. Picked early (11.5 baume), whole bunch pressed to tank over night to settle the vineyard dust, then transferred to older barriques for fermentation.

It's a very cool block, facing East it only sees the morning sun and planted on a steep block with the rows terraced. Even at low sugars, we get ripeness and richness through the mid palate as flavour is well ahead of sugar in the ripening phase. The wine should age gracefully for 7-10 years.

 Margaret River Wine Show 2017: Gold Medal

Halliday Wine Companion Awards - Top Rated Chardonnay 2019

• Royal Queensland Wine Show 2017 - Gold
• Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2017 - Gold
• Perth Royal Wine Show 2017 - Gold
• Wine Show of Western Australia 2017 - Gold
• National Wine Show of Australia 2017 - Gold
• Royal Hobart Wine Show 2017 - Gold

97 Points - James Halliday "Five gold medals in the second half of '17 will have been added to by the time of publication. Mainly sourced from Wilyabrup, the wine has a special type of phenolic grip (not limited to white wines) that makes the taster incapable of doing anything other than swallow it (bad phenolics have the opposite effect). A special wine, with perfect fruit/oak balance."

97+ Points - Stuart McCloskey “The wine demands some aeration and reveals a crystalline, mineral-driven bouquet with nashi pear, white flowers, oatmeal and a whiff of smoky sulphide. The palate is certainly complex with flavours ranging from stonefruit, lemon peel and touches of anise. Concentrated but at the same time supremely measured and seamless. The palate offers a lovely glossy texture and is incredibly satisfying. Flavours expand from citrus notes, limestone, smoked almond to more oatmeal. Everything is kept in check with a healthy wash of acidity. A wine of immense potential and will only improve with more cellaring (3-8 years). I love this. Served using Zalto Bordeaux glassware”. Our Wine of the Week - 26 April

97 Points - James Halliday  "Hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed, cloudy juice wild-fermented in French oak (40% new), matured for 12 months. It's exceptionally fresh and pure, white peach and nectarine at its core. Roasted cashew and citrussy acidity dance around the core, creating a very long and crisp finish."

Winemakers notes: 2013 summed up to be a perfect vintage with clear sunny days and cool evenings. This produced a long, moderate growing season with extended hang time and even ripening, resulting in a full range of flavors while retaining natural acidity.

We press the whole clusters for delicacy. Native-yeast and full native malolactic fermentation take place in barrel, with sur lies bâtonnage. After aging 12 months in 20% new French and Hungarian oak barrels (François Frères and Demptos), this Chardonnay is fined and stabilized in tank during the following harvest. It was then bottled without filtration in February, 2015.

Coming from these two special vineyard sites (77% Martinelli Charles Ranch Vineyard; 23% Platt Vineyard), our Sonoma Coast Chardonnays show great depth of flavor, length of finish, aromatic complexity, and a fine balance between richness and delicacy. These two vineyards have typically cool climates, low vigor soil, and a vine selection that generate small berries, small clusters and inherently low yields.

97 Points - Stuart McCloskey "By far, the standout wine from the Talbott samples which I received. The nose unfolds with some aeration but retains its tight, mineral and steely fresh character – a nutty character unfolds after a while. The palate offers a degree of richness but has a tight and elegant core which is most attractive. Buttered citrus, stone fruits and tropical layers in abundance with touches of toast and oak. The mouthfeel and textural grip are impressive which support the wine’s overall harmonious balance. Lovely acidity and vitality which contrasts beautifully with the ripe fruit and toasty, mealy flavours. This is just beginning to show its full potential and will comfortably cellar for 5+ years. Excellent and served using Zalto Bordeaux glassware."

91 Points - Antonio Galloni

The 2015 Chardonnay White Hill is refined, elegant and lifted, with plenty of bright citrus, white pepper and floral overtones. This is in a decidedly delicate, restrained style for Liquid Farm.

99 Points - Stuart McCloskey

The 2014 Chanin Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay has a terrific purity and class. With aromas and flavours of white peach, stone fruits, white flowers and toasted bread it is elegant and balanced, with both richness and freshness - a classic, and beautifully made Chardonnay.

95 Points – Bob Campbell

Unusually rich, fleshy Chardonnay in a mouth-filling and accessible style that makes a change from the rather more steely wine I expect under this label. Quite oaky with ginger, ripe peach, tree fruits and a hint of honey. A real surprise.