$16
Good to see a bit of serious Chardonnay action at this price. “Koonunga and Hyland have always benefitted from the Chardonnays above them,” Peter Gago rightfully suggests. White peach and lemon fruit with a touch of those bacon fat and spice notes that usually only kick in much higher up the price tree. A touch of [...]
$40
95 points
It’s high and cold in Tumbarumba, you can see all the way to the summit of Kosciusko, and that’s a clue to why some of New South Wale’s finest Chardonnays are at home here. When I visited last year to taste them all, Bin 311 was the standout and the 2009 is the most nervy [...]
$34
93 points
From a single Piccadilly vineyard in the Adelaide Hills (which the label doesn’t reveal, although it should), this is a wine that speaks more of structure than flavour. “St Henri is more about texture and mouth feel than it is about fruit, and we hope that this might make a similar statement,” explained Peter Gago. [...]
$32
94 points
This wine will quickly become your new favourite dinner guest. Limes, lemons, and almost all of your favourite summer stone fruits are crammed into your glass to make for an excellent compliment to any seafood dish. The wine is propped up with tightly seamed acidity to bring together a clean and pleasant finish, both to [...]
$90
97 points
Penfolds Reserve Bin 08A Chardonnay is so far ahead of the pack that when it cleaned up every other Chardonnay to win three trophies – and then every other variety to win the best wine of show – at the National Wine Show last year I knew precisely what it was long before it was [...]
$95
96 points
While South-Eastern Australia ducks and dodges successive heatwaves, droughts, frost and bushfires, Margaret River coasts through one vintage-of-the-decade after another. Here comes along another epic Art Series, a beautiful confluence of zesty citrus and lemon curd with nutmeg, cinnamon spice and perfectly integrated cashew nut oak. The purity of its lemon blossom, grapefruit and just-picked [...]
$285
96 points
The 2006 Burgundy vintage will be forgotten by many, falling between the red wine vintage-of-the-century (2005) and the desperately scintillating white wine vintage of 2007. But when I tasted the 2006 whites from barrel in 2008 there was no question that this, too, is an outstanding year in its own right. That Louis Jadot’s CC [...]
$60
95 points
Sophistication is the theme here, and you must be extremely accurate in the manner in which you wield this weapon. Its purity and complexity will handle delicate seafood and white meat dishes with ease, but be careful not to push the action too far because this is fundamentally a soft, restrained wine. Craighall is one [...]
$58
95 points
Sandro Moselle is the Mornington Peninsula’s most multi-talented winemaker, consistently crafting all manner of varieties under a wide range of labels. Not surprisingly, though, the best of these are the Mornington’s specialties of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under his Kooyong label. In 2007, his standout Chardonnay was the pure, backward Farrago. Zesty grapefruit contrasts with [...]
$57
95 points
This is a big vintage for Moss Wood Chardonnay, with layers of grapefruit, white nectarine and fig fruit. It holds its 14.5% alcohol effortlessly, thanks to the toning influence of its fresh acidity and structured minerality. Ultra-classy vanilla pod oak rises the occasion, propelling the fruit onward and upward. Its proportions make this a good [...]
91 points