Geoff Merrill Reserve Chardonnay 2023 6 Pack

95 POINTS

Sam Kim - Wine Orbit

Charming and elegantly complex, the wine shows white-fleshed stone fruit, fig, nougat, oatmeal, and roasted cashew characters. The palate is equally appealing with excellent concentration, focus, and a creamy texture, well countered by bright acidity, finishing long and satisfying. A blend of grapes from McLaren Vale & Coonawarra.

95 POINTS

Ray Jordan - Winepilot

This is a fifty-five McLaren Vale and forty-five Coonawarra blend which comes from careful barrel selection each year. There’s richness here with a mix of stone fruit and roasted cashew characters. It’s had a reasonable hit of new French oak for nine months in a mix of hogsheads and puncheons, and yet the fruit has absorbed and managed it and harnessed it rather well. It’s a slightly older style Chardonnay in many ways, but with that fine, precise acidity, it just brings it forward into the modern domain. Really impressive wine over the next five to six years.

93 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

The team undergo a strict blind tasting of all their Chardonnay to select the best barrels from both McLaren Vale and Coonawarra. These are blended and returned to new French oak hogsheads for a further nine months of maturation. With this vintage, the split was 55% from McLaren Vale and 45% from Coonawarra. A fresh, lemony yellow hue, the nose is redolent of apricot skins, peaches, nectarines, citrus, nuts, cinnamon, spices and even a hint of Hendricks Gin. The oak is well integrated and there is juicy acidity and a sleek texture with a persistent finish. A well-balanced wine, enjoy this over the next five to six years.