Leeuwin Estate Prelude Chardonnay 2024

94 POINTS

Tom Kline - Winepilot

Producer. Producer. Producer. Despite the 2024 naysaying (at least for Chardonnay) on account of its warmth, this is unsurprisingly all class and one to jump on for the quality-to-price ratio. Nougat, chestnut and fine cedar mark a savoury beginning before an unfurling of white grapefruit, peach skin and dehydrated lime. Allusions of flint. It’s immediate and open, though with definition and detail. Notes of brown spice and salted lemon emerge with air. It all clicks nicely into place, making for a really striking perfume. The palate is textural and full, with the nutty savouriness and fine cedar notes sitting forward before a cut of pithy white grapefruit and tangy lemon hold sway and pull it linear. Classic Gin Gin clone acidity and phenolic grip put up a lovely long frame around the finish, which is drawn to good length. This is very good, and at its price point it can boast complexity, structure, power and detail.

93 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

Given that the Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay is always considered one of our very best Chardonnays, each vintage, it should be no surprise that their Prelude Chardonnay is another seriously good wine. Inevitably, it will be looked at as a second wine by some, but it deserves better than that. In fact, there would be wineries lining up to have this as their pinnacle release. Fermentation was in French barriques with 35% of them new. The wine then spent a further ten months in maturation. Lemon/straw in colour, there are gorgeous aromas here, with cashews, white peaches, stone fruits, nectarines, woodsmoke, citrus and mandarins all prevalent. The wine has enjoyed excellent oak handling, is of medium to good length and offers a fine line of acidity. Fresh and bright, this has at least six to eight years of providing pleasure ahead of it.

93 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

I appreciate the talk around the 2024 Margaret River vintage but I’m still seeing lots of good wines produced. This is as good as you’d hope and better than you’d expect. It’s a very good wine. It has good fruit intensity, a rub of texture, sound-smoky length and strong all-around appeal. It tastes of grapefruit, lemongrass, peach and pear, with cedar and smoke as attractive whispers. All the way along the line, I like what I taste here.

92 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2024 Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay is super light in the glass and aromatically restrained. The palate is nutty and complex, as always, with brilliant length and poise through the mid palate and finish. This feels lighter and less concentrated than years previous, and yet it does not lack length through the finish. 2024 was both hot and dry, and yet the wine shows none of the challenges in the glass. It's very good. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

92 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

The 2024 Chardonnay Prelude Vineyards is generously fruited, offering layered aromas of nectarine, peach and persimmon, with vanillin oak well matched. The palate is packed with tropical flavors and aided by a gentle bite of acidity, which delivers impressive length. This wine is ready to enjoy now but will also build nicely over the medium term.

90 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

The 2024 Chardonnay Prelude Vineyards is exotic, offering layers of bright fruit salad aromas with accents of fresh pear and florals underpinned by spicy oak. The palate is open knit and creamy textured in a full-flavored package accented with nutty, well-integrated oak before softening on the finish.

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

It’s still a wine in parts – the oak sitting a tad too heavy, nervy acidity zipping in and out, the palate firm. There’s a whisper of fruit in the background, some herbal tones and a jangly feel. Hopefully, time will be the cure for this to mellow and settle.