Yabby Lake Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2025

97 POINTS

Lisa Cardelli - Winepilot

Yabby Lake has been venturing into the Coal River region since 2022. And as a result – wow, what an entrance! Without further ado, a nougatine, white chocolate and pink grapefruit medley sets the scene, with nectarine, pineapple, cracked vanilla and smoked almond following the lead. While the texture rolls like the dice on the casino table, the acidity is there, reassuringly keeping everything in check and giving a tonic lift, creating enough tension as the palate prepares for the grand finale, which goes on and on – until you pour another glass, because this is simply too tasty to stop at one.

97 POINTS

Jeni Port - Winepilot

Hails from the Coal River Valley and in this cool, southerly Tassie sub-region, the ’25 vintage shone with a warm and extended summer. This sets the scene for a wine that combines intensity and concentration of fruit flavour – pure cool climate class – while sporting an equally sunny disposition. Sustained aromas of spring florals, white peach, quince, citrus, grapefruit, hazelnut and biscuit. Seamless to taste, in fact, it’s an utter joy.  In keeping with Yabby Lake style, French oak plays a role, an enlivening condiment, with 20% new oak in play and it helps bring a warm umami textural note as well as a gentle, biscuity toast and nuttiness. A deep sustained palate picks up touches of gingery spice as it flows through to the finish, contributing yet another layer in this multi-layered, elegant Chardonnay. All class.

96 POINTS

Jeni Port - Winepilot

Where do you start? The aromas rise in a flurry of scents, aromatic and lively, in peach, nectarine, baked quince, struck match, biscuit, toasty oak and hazelnut. You’re immediately hooked. A beautiful elegance ensues, all finely detailed, layered and firmly intact. This youngster is going to age so well. What you get to meet in the glass is a Chardonnay of impressive line and length, integrated, concentrated, driven by a brisk acidity with fruits bright and lemon citrussy joined by ripe stone fruits, gentle spice, almond meal and savoury pithy grapefruit notes with phenolics joined by a brisk acidity that take the palate long. Nicely textural – it runs easily, evenly over the tongue – before finishing on a lasting grapefruit tarty clean pithiness. Archetypal Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay – so good!

96 POINTS

Dave Brookes - Halliday Wine Companion

A finely focused Coal River Valley chardonnay; whole-bunch pressed and wild fermented in 500L French oak (20% new) and matured on lees for a further 10 months. Tautly stretched citrus and stone fruits with hints of crushed stone, white flowers, some distant oatmeal, a wisp of struck flint, nougat, almond paste, minerals and judicial nutty oak. Filigreed with a brisk saline cadence, it's a wonderfully composed wine, all precision and drive, with a captivating slide of umami on the back end. Just delicious.

95 POINTS

Lisa Cardelli - Winepilot

Rich and captivating to begin with, with a luminous, iridescent light of yellow peach and a dollop of cream, smoked pineapple skin and guava, pink grapefruit, Brazil nuts and almond meal. On the palate, there’s less focus on the oak and more a sum of its parts, slowly coming together. A vein of acidity cuts through the rock-solid, multi-layered texture, knitting together secondary characters and fruitier notes. A vibrant, reassuring length frames a wine of great cellaring potential and distinction.

95 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

While there’s no shortage of fine, mouth-watering acidity pulsing throughout, it’s surprisingly open and flavoursome. And everything is in place so this is balanced. Citrus and white stone fruit, creamy lees, nougatine and some spicy oak unfurl across the finely tuned palate. Refreshing, enjoyable now and will garner more complexity with time.