2025 Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay

96 pts
High-altitude biodynamic Macedon Chardonnay from the warm 2025 season.

Price:
Sale price$105.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Few Chardonnays in Victoria are grown as high as this one. Alan and Nelly Cooper planted Cobaw Ridge in the late '80s on a steep granite ridge in the Macedon Ranges, and they've farmed it organically and biodynamically for decades. Proper cult producer here that deserves that label.

The vines sit at around 600 metres, ringed by native bush. That altitude came into its own in 2025: a warmer season in Central Victoria, but up here the wind and the freezing nights kept everything in check. The Coopers' approach is hands-off, with natural ferments in old oak and plenty of time on lees, so the vintage and the granite are always the defining factors of the wines.

This is a Chardonnay with big flavour and a cool core. Think ripe peach, pear and preserved lemon, a little wild honey and nougat, then a salty, mineral line and a whiff of struck match that keeps it lively. It's mid-weighted and textural, with a long, mouthwatering finish.

Two 96-point reviews for a beautifully balanced, biodynamic high-country Chardonnay. 2025 is one of the best Cobaw Ridge releases in years.

96 points
"This is a treat... The balance is superb, you see it in plain sight."
- Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

96 points
"Very stylish with some flashy reduction... A fabulous release showing plenty of early-drinking appeal, but with time ahead in the cellar."
- Ryan Montgomery (James Suckling)

96 points - "One gets the sense that the warmer 2025 vintage goes pretty well in the cooler spots of Central Victoria. At 600-plus metres above sea level, the cosseted-in-native-bush, 25-year-young biodynamic vines of Cobaw Ridge might just have found a pretty good balance between the heat of day and the cool of height. So too the wind whips over that site, and so too the nights chill to the max. What seems to be something of 2025 Macedon is flavour in wines, with coolness underlying. Nice. This is a treat. A quietness to the wine and yet a seductive spread in texture and flavour. Hazy apple juice characters meet fennel, preserved lemon, light, wild honey notes, just-ripe peach and a touch of nougat with vanilla wafer. All of this sticks well in the palate, the perfume a good echo. Minerality, a briny undertow, makes itself known too. The balance is superb, you see it in plain sight. That it tastes like proper chardonnay, has a vitality, finishes long, delivers refreshment factor, well, it all adds up superbly." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

96 points - "Very stylish with some flashy reduction and aromas of grilled lemons, struck match, sliced pears, wet stones, nectarines and salted nuts. The palate is midweighted with fleshy orchard fruit and citrus, cut through by bright acidity and talc-like phenolics. The finish is long and mouthwatering. A fabulous release showing plenty of early-drinking appeal, but with time ahead in the cellar. Drink or hold." - Ryan Montgomery (James Suckling)

Customer Reviews

Price Bracket $101 and Above
Type White
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Chardonnay
Country Australia
Region Macedon
Australian State VIC
Feature Biodynamic
High Score
Reviewed By The Wine Front
James Suckling
Critic Score 96
Alcohol 13.5%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2025
Closure DIAM Cork

Cobaw Ridge

Alan and Nelly Cooper established their Macedon Ranges vineyard in 1985. The first certified organic and biodynamic winery in the region, the Coopers firmly believe that great wines are made in the vineyard so the vines and the integrity of their fruit are their first priorities.

They grow some of the region’s best examples of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Australia’s most sought-after example of Lagrein. Over the years Alan's winemaking approach has become more and more minimalist. With sulphur now the only addition in the winery and Alan using more inert vessels such as Qvevri, the Cobaw Ridge Wines have never looked better.

Small, family-owned, sensitively-grown, hand-crafted wines - this is why we love Australian wine.

Alan and Nelly Cooper Cobaw Ridge

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