One of the best chardonnays yet under this label. But you expect that with mature vineyards, a great vintage and continually refined winemaking. Opens with a slightly savoury cashew aromatic, which is intense and immediately engaging. The palate is deep and multi-layered. Explosive and powerful, it extends with real purpose to a long though still linear and defined finish. One of the best.
95 POINTS
Jeni Port - Winepilot
A Chardonnay to get the mouth watering. The scent of sea spray and rockpool is inviting, so sunny and fresh, with peach, nectarine, concentrated citrus, nougat and gently nutty oak. Luscious, generous and well-trimmed in bright acidity, the palate features some nicely worked winemaking overlay – including nine months in French oak barriques, 28% new – and complexity cast across summer stone fruits, lemon sorbet, lime peel, hazelnut and floral citrus blossom. A warm, buttery texture is well countered on the finish with neat line of lip- smacking quince tartness. The quintessential Margaret River Chardonnay.
95 POINTS
Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion
If this chardy were in a rock band, it would be more than a backup singer to the lead vocals of Heytesbury – it would also belt out a few solos. It has its own voice. A little fleshier with white stone fruit but, of course, it comes with grapefruit and ginger flowers, fennel fronds, some neat phenolics and oak spice, the acidity pure and fine. It has delicious leesy/smoky/flavours. It’s a lovely drink and there's no need to wait to drink it.
95 POINTS
Cassandra Charlick - Winepilot
Always a great value Chardonnay with plenty of great winemaking resources at play. The nose is powerful; preserved lemon, nashi pear skin, sea salt and crushed shell, with toasted oat and roast cashew, coriander spice. A just-there cheesy, leesy disco-ball funk. Such fantastic fruit power on the palate, concentration, pith, but also clarity. There’s a get up and seize the day energy about this, but it’s got some serious structure and is not flippant about where it’s going. White pepper, lemon flesh, and a green caper brine finish cries out for another sip of succulence. An opus of layers, well-strung and firm Gingin acidity, crocheted phenolics and a smart as a whip finish with plenty of persistence. 2023 was a cracker, and this is a fire-cracker of a wine. The best iteration of this wine yet.
The nose is deeply complex and inviting, with aromas of lemon confit, quince, lime curd and grapefruit rind. The palate is medium-bodied with focused acidity and a generous mouthfeel, giving notes of fresh pineapple, white chocolate nougat, gun smoke and orange blossoms. A good balance of power and freshness.
94 POINTS
Gary Walsh - The Wine Front
I was out and about in Leichhardt today, which is surely one of the more difficult suburbs to spell, and decided to pretend I was a normal person and pop into a bottle shop. In this case, Vintage Cellars, and it’s invariably interesting to see what’s on the shelves. Anyway, my partner told me she’d tried this wine earlier in the week, and that it was good. So we bought a bottle.
Some struck match, grapefruit, lemon oil, light spicy oak and cashew, honey florals, and fennel. Juicy but tight, with good intensity and flavour, though it’s still pretty light on its feet, a little nectarine and honeydew melon in with citrus, creamy cashew, light struck match, with a bright grapefruit tang on a finish of excellent length. A strong release of this wine, I think.
94 POINTS
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2023 Chardonnay leads with pistachio and white peach, crushed shells and saline acidity. This is really good; it's complex, mouthfilling and sophisticated and massively overdelivers for the money (this, pleasingly, still sits at under $50 AUD). It's an excellent wine from an excellent season, matured for nine months in French oak barrique, 28% new. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion
It’s a cuddly wine, rich with stone fruit and candied pear, ginger spice and woodsy spices, with a lick of cedary, sweet oak. It’s textural, appealing and uncomplicated.
