97 points - “Excellent, fitting the mold of sleek, stylish yet powerful chardonnays that have captivated the chardonnay lovers’ community. Flinty with reductive notes, showing struck match, kaffir limes, sea spray, grapefruit and apple blossoms. The palate is taut and refined with a generous fruit profile. So distinctive and impressive. From winemaker Julian Langworthy. Drink or hold. Screw cap.” - Top 100 Wines of Australia 2025, jamessuckling.com

96+ points - “Electrifying and energising from the first sip to the last drop. Moreish savoury sulphides, so flinty and good; grapefruit, barely ripe white nectarine, freshly sliced ginger and excellent oak infusion. This is zesty and ultra-refreshing thanks to the acidity, yet beautifully textural. Gosh, this is so good.” - Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)

95 points - “The 2024 Single Vineyard Chardonnay hails from the Forrest vineyard in Wilyabrup in Margaret River, and the wine is tightly coiled, with carefully managed reduction (in the form of freshly picked curry leaf here) that slips through the folds in the fruit. This is a brilliant wine, one that defies the dryness and heat of the season and shows the strength of great vineyards in great areas. The structure and texture are the highlight. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.” - Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)

95 points - “Julian Langworthy is a chardonnay savant, a master at weaving fine filaments of funk through deftly weighted, fine and focused chardonnay. This is classic Langworthy – taut fruit, deft funk, crystalline acidity.” - Nick Ryan (The Australian)

This is a tricky one. Is it the peer of the peerless 2023, a wine that was as effortless as any I have ever made? No, is the answer, but I have a little feeling that many of you will prefer it. A trademark assault to the senses of flint and funk and ripe acidity, yet this wine, given the season, has more flesh on its bones and strays slightly to riper fruits. See what you think; my feeling is that it’s a very cool incarnation of the coolest of cool vineyards in a warm year.

The fruit is, of course, from a single site, the Forrest Vineyard in the Wilyabrup sub-region of Margaret River. Moreover, this wine is from a small section of the vineyard’s middle ridge, carefully selected for this wine. Planted to the classic WA Gin Gin clone, it is a wine of unbelievable natural acid presence and structural drive. The vineyard is otherwise largely flat and quite close to the coast—only about 3km— and it is planted on deep silver-grey sands. The picking date is generally relatively early in the Chardonnay season, given the vineyard’s low-yielding nature. The grapes were handpicked on 25th January, a month earlier than in 2023. Weird as. Pressed as bunches directly to new, one- and two-year-old puncheons, with no settling or fining processes. This juice was then carefully monitored, and spontaneous fermentation kicked off on day five after pressing. After a four-week ferment, the wine remained on gross lees unsulphured until October of that year. In December, the wine was emptied from barrel, settled, filtered and bottled.

This is an exciting site that holds amazing acid structure and lovely, al dente tannin. This vintage is more expressive and generous than some, and it is already shining. Flint, funk, ripe white stone fruit, brown lime and passion. You can taste passions, all the different kinds. This wine inspires me to strive harder each year and bring all my passion for winemaking to bear.