Bannockburn Winery Block Chardonnay 2025

96 POINTS

Philip Rich - Halliday Wine Companion

Whole-bunch pressed, fermented and matured in French hogsheads and puncheons (40% new); 75% mlf. An intense, rich bouquet of yellow pear, citrus peel, spice and oyster shell. It's ripe and mouth-filling, to be sure, but also nicely delineated, with an even thread of acidity giving the wine structure and length through to its long finale. Lovely now, but history also tells us it will age well.

95 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

The Winery Block was planted in 1981, and is the largest planting of chardonnay on the estate. The 2025 vintage was the earliest vintage this century, and likely on record, at the estate. This wine is a perfect expression of chardonnay fruit flavour. It saw 40% new oak but the fruit has largely swallowed it whole, leaving a wine filled with fleshy stonefruit, pear, grapefruit and citrus flavour, with gently floats of vanilla, toast and grilled peach riding seamlessly throughout. It makes it all look easy and yet the extension of flavour is excellent, as is the length of the finish. There’s genuine verve here but, too, there’s flavour in every nook.