Description
- 2024 Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay
- 2023 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay
- 2024 Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay
- 2023 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay
- 2024 Giant Steps Bastard Hill Vineyard Chardonnay
- 2025 Patrick Sullivan Ada River Chardonnay
Restricted Allocation: Max 1 bottle per customer
2024 Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay
Rick Kinzbrunner has seen plenty of vintages up in Beechworth, but the 2024 has the winery confidently claiming a spot on the podium alongside legends like '96, '10 and '21. After a run of wet La Niña years, this season delivered an estate white of incredible stature, but with a distinctly salty, structural edge that sets it apart.
It hits the glass with an immediate sense of gravity, leaning heavily into a savoury, mineral-driven profile. Instead of loud fruit, you get crushed chalk, toasted green almonds, and an almost green olive salinity, with a quiet undercurrent of struck flint as always.
The shape through the mouth is where the real drama happens. It feels incredibly compressed and deliberate, trading on skin-like phenolics and a pulpy texture rather than aggressive acid. It moves with absolute precision, carrying an intense, tight core that promises an incredibly long life ahead.
One of the New World's finest white wines. Extremely limited.
100 points
"Ethereal, creamy, and complex with slight al-dente texture lengthening the palate. Absolutely to die for. A magical experience. "
- Andrew Caillard MW (The Vintage Journal)
99 points
"This is a remarkable wine, one of incisive focus and attractive width of texture. It has few peers in its execution of style."
- Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)
98 points
"This is a calm and composed iteration of this wine, and it feels all just so. Outstanding."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
Read More98 points
"There is an undoubted richness, a deep seam of flavour here that ranges long, underscored by firm phenolics and a bright acidity that lifts."
- Jeni Port (Halliday Wine Companion)
2023 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay
This is arguably Australia's most iconic Chardonnay. For decades, this Margaret River legend has been in a league of its own - a Grand Cru of the Southern Hemisphere, capable of standing alongside the world’s finest white wines. The 2023 release is one of the most decorated in recent memory, a near-perfect harvest at Leeuwin delivering power, complexity, and deft balance.
The fruit is hand-harvested, cooled, and partially whole-bunch pressed before undergoing 100% barrel fermentation in new French oak. Regular lees stirring builds texture and depth, and after 11 months in barrel, the wine is blended and bottled without compromise.
The nose is intense and layered - nashi pear, finger lime, and lemon curd, lifted by white florals, brioche, and sesame praline. The palate is pure and precise, unfolding with waves of nectarine, white peach, and citrus zest, laced with graphite minerality, gentle spice, and a fine chalky finish. The acidity is vibrant yet refined, giving the wine tension, length, and serious ageing potential.
A benchmark Australian Chardonnay, and, by the reviewers' reports, one that's destined to go down as one of the best ever from this prestigious address.
99 points
“This brilliant Chardonnay will surely come to be ranked, not only amongst the best ever from this legendary estate, not only among the best from this thrilling region, but among the best Australia has ever made. This is Grand Cru quality at what has sadly become Village pricing. A profound Chardonnay destined to become a bucketlist wine... Leeuwin have made some mindbogglingly good Chardonnays over the years, but I think none better.”
- Ken Gargett (Wine Pilot)
98 points
“A very powerful chardonnay, searingly intense and strongly structured, and needing more time yet to come into full harmony. Outstanding.”
- Huon Hooke (The Real Review)
97 pointsRead More
“Power with precision. You can drink it now, sure, though ideally wait for all the components to mesh. It’s an outstanding release.”
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
2024 Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay
Alongside the Pinot Noir, Tolpuddle’s Chardonnay has carved out a place as one of the most coveted white wines in the country. From its windswept site in the Coal River Valley, yields are naturally low – thanks in part to the notorious “hen and chicken” bunches and the relentless valley winds – but what fruit remains is intensely concentrated and characterful.
The 2024 release is every bit as compelling as you’d expect. Citrus and white peach sit at the core, layered with struck match, almond meal and a fine saline edge that speaks directly of its site. The palate is taut and driving, framed by crystalline acidity, yet there’s a creamy, flowing texture that gives the wine its quiet power.
This is Chardonnay that balances precision with depth – made to cellar but irresistible in its youth. Every vintage, Tolpuddle reminds us why Tasmania now sits at the forefront of Australia’s cool-climate Chardonnay story.
Read More2023 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay
Heytesbury is one of Australia’s great modern Chardonnays, and the 2023 release is already being talked about as one of the finest yet. From a cool, late vintage in Margaret River, the wine marries extraordinary fruit purity with the kind of coiled, latent power that defines all the best vintages of this icon.
Made exclusively from the revered Gingin clone, the grapes were hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed and wild fermented in French oak barriques (52% new), before nine months in oak and a further seven months harmonising on full lees. The result is a wine of remarkable presence: pale in colour but bursting with flinty complexity, lemon biscuit, ocean spray and subtle savoury notes. On the palate, taut acid lines and fine phenolics drive grapefruit, clotted cream and ginger flavours into a finish of dazzling length .
Critics have been unanimous in their praise. It's one of the most celebrated vintages in this wine's long and decorated history. In short: this is benchmark Margaret River Chardonnay at the very top of its game. Magnificent now, but with at least a decade of development ahead.
"A true Grand Cru Chardonnay and one of the great Heytesburys."Read More
- Tyson Stelzer
2024 Giant Steps Bastard Hill Vineyard Chardonnay
97 points
"Precise and mineral driven... This will age slowly but surely over the next decade. There's only 200 dozen made in '24..."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)
Bastard Hill may be the most aptly named site in the Yarra. Brutally steep and tough to farm, but it rewards the effort with Chardonnay of rare definition and drive. Originally planted for sparkling in 1986 by Ray Guerin, this is now one of the region’s great cool-climate sites - perched at 300–400m on volcanic loam, tucked deep in Gladysdale.
The 2024 release is only the second under Giant Steps’ stewardship and it’s already clear: this vineyard is a powerhouse. A compressed growing season delivered small bunches and piercing natural acidity. The fruit was whole-bunch pressed to 500L puncheons, where it fermented wild. Only a quarter of the wine went through malo, dialling up tension rather than softening the edges.
It smells like crushed seashells and citrus pith, with pink grapefruit, green apple skin, and flint in behind. The palate is linear and racy - lemon peel and pear over a mineral core, with just enough texture to flesh it out. It’s razor-sharp, pure, and built for the long haul.
Bastard by name, elite by nature. This is a new star in the Giant Steps Chardonnay lineup.
2025 Patrick Sullivan Ada River Chardonnay
Pat Sullivan’s work in the foothills of Mount Baw Baw is some of the most exciting Chardonnay winemaking in the country right now. The Ada River site is a tiny, one-hectare patch of dry-grown vines planted back in 1982. Sitting at 300m elevation on deep, red volcanic soils, it’s protected from the harsh snowfield winds by 360-degree windbreaks, allowing the fruit to develop incredible concentration without losing its cool-climate nerve.
The 2025 is a wine of real authority. It leads with white peach and citrus zest, but there’s a sophisticated savoury edge - think toasted hazelnut and a flicker of delicate spice. Pat gave this 10 months in barrique with 30% new oak, and while that provides a sturdy frame, it’s the volcanic "crunch" and mineral drive that defines the finish. This is about fruit, first and foremost, the oak a secondary player.
It’s a powerful Chardonnay that manages to stay bright and fresh. We’ve always loved how Pat lets these Gippsland sites speak for themselves, and the Ada River feels particularly settled and commanding this year. This is arguably one of the most exciting Chardonnays to enter the upper echelon of Australian wine in the past decade.
97+ points
"The stars are aligned, as this is the finest Ada River to date. Pristine yet powerful. Full of flavour yet everything corralled by fine acidity... There’s definition, complexity, layers of texture as the palate builds to a crescendo, allowing everything that is so great about this wine to fall into place."
- Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
96 pointsRead More
"Patrick Sullivan may just get his black belt for chardonnay from his 2025 releases... This is superb chardonnay, distinct for its styling and somewhat other-worldy for Australian chardonnay generally, in the best sense. All about it."
- Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)
Customer Reviews
| Price Bracket | $101 and Above |
| Type | White |
| Variety | Chardonnay |
| Country | Australia |
| Feature |
High Score |
| Size | 9 |
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