Luminosa Chardonnay 2023

97 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

This is outrageously good. It’s stately, a powerhouse of a wine, yet is perfectly poised and stylish. A good site and clever winemaking (Gingin clone) allow chardonnay’s inherent strengths to shine. That would be the citrus-accented fruit, the struck match flintiness, spice and mouth-watering acidity. The palate builds and while there’s depth and volume, this is well contained with judicious oak and feathery light lees flavour. And yet, given all that, there’s a fineness as the finish heads off to the horizon. What a wine.

96 POINTS

Jeni Port - Winepilot

A single vineyard Chardonnay of inimitable character, there is only one Luminosa. Each release is a masterclass in delivering a top tier Margaret River Chardonnay that is both sumptuous and bright with a real inner Chardonnay energy force. Complexity is immediately delivered via aromas rich in peach, melon, quince paste, apple, citrus and lively, fresh sea spray. The palate offers an all-embracing taste experience in layers of flavour, juicy, filigree-fine acidity, a lick of smart oak that seems naturally in tune. Enticing hints of zesty lemon skin to close. Lingers long with outstanding line and length.

96 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

As an outlier in terms of wine critics (and nothing new there), I didn’t much enjoy the 2022 Chardonnay wines from Stella Bella, though they were pretty much universally lauded. They were a bit too much for me, but these 2023, well they are back on track for my tastes. Lime pie, lemon and pink grapefruit, light spicy toasty oak, fennel and white flowers. It’s slightly nutty, pure in acidity, quite flinty and textured, white nectarine and citrus, including a little twist of peel, a slight parmesan rind savoury thing, with a chalky finish of superb length. In short, it’s a banger.

95 POINTS

James Suckling

Sophisticated notes of lemon confit, rosemary, flint and lime curd. The palate is medium-bodied with vivid acidity, giving notes of grapefruit, quince, apples and sea spray. Very nicely constructed while sitting on the edge of reduction.

95 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2023 Luminosa Chardonnay is more subtle and seamless than the Suckfizzle tasted beside it. This has a richer fruit profile, more phenolic grip and shape, and while it is likely not too much less in numerical measure of acidity, it feels more intrenched in the fruit. I love this wine. It has balance and shape, with a lightning bolt of energy in the mouth. The 2023 season was one of the very very best in Margaret River in the context of Chardonnay. 13.3% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

95 POINTS

2025 - Decanter World Wine Awards

Distinctive smoky, flinty notes to start which develop into a fine complexity of melon and lemon fruits all topped off with a zippy grapefruit acidity. Award: Gold - DWWA 2025

94 POINTS

Cassandra Charlick - Decanter

The Luminosa Vineyard is situated at top of the Boodjidup Valley in the Wallcliffe subregion. Initial funk and gun flint with Parmesan rind and an earthy edge. Pronounced salinity, lovely preserved lemon fruit underneath and woody souk spice. Yellow peach fruit; structured and direct in shape. Phenolics provide substance, with a compact structure. Nice just-popped popcorn, brioche malo, gunflint character. Toasty oak is prominent as a final note. Substantial wine still developing its balance; structured with a firm finish. Gingin fruit is hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed, settled overnight and transferred on lees to French oak barrels for natural fermentation. Bâtonnage only as required, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Spends nine months in French oak.