98 points - "There's lovely harmony and plushness, with fresh citrus and stone fruit aromas showing the trademark salty, reductive edge of this renowned chardonnay house. The palate is full-bodied yet tense, with a fine phenolic structure and a long, chalky finish showing nerve and power. Another excellent release from this Australian stalwart. Drink or hold. Screw cap." - Ryan Montgomery (James Suckling)

97 points - "This is a stunning and stirring example of Margaret River chardonnay from what turned out to be an excellent year. It's immensely powerful, and the fruit was whole-bunch pressed, which has certainly added to its structural integrity. Got a mix of new and seasoned French oak, and then the lees were stirred, and that's brought in that textural feel and richness. Brings together the intense minerally fruit with a little gunflint complexity and a touch of lemon rind and grapefruit. Has a dry, savoury, slightly chalky acid finish. Really is a first-rate wine." - Ray Jordan (Unknown)

96 points - "Stunning chardonnay. Intense with fruit, gently flinty, laced with nougat characters and then long and chalky through the finish. This wine delivers juicy fruit flavours complete with all the trimmings. Grilled peach, pineapple, lemonade, ozone, umami and a side-serve of pears and honeycomb. It's as delicious as it is fantastic." - Campbell Mattinson (Unknown)

96 points - "I’ve had my moments with Deep Woods Reserve Chardonnay over the years, but when they are good, I really like them. It has perfume and spice, white peach, lime and grapefruit, with a slight saline note and a whisper of struck match. In some respects it’s a Chardonnay defined by its quietness and composure, where everything is in its place. There’s a powdery feel to texture, a brightness and freshness to acidity, some sourdough bread savoury elements, biscuit spice from oak, a gentle creaminess too, finishing with, I kid you not, something very like a lemonade Icy Pole (and aren’t they magnificent when you have a hangover!) and excellent length. In terms of score, I’m vacillating between 95 and 96 points, though its overall charm nudges me towards the latter." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

Vineyard
This wine was grown on two premium northern Wilyabrup vineyards, with additional fruit from a pristine site in the southern subregion of Karridale. The fruit is 100% Gin Gin clone Chardonnay, which is distinctive to the wines of Margaret River. Each site falls within 10km of the Indian Ocean, which cools the fruit zone within the vineyard canopy each afternoon.

Winemaking
We began picking by hand on 20th February, with only select bunches delivered to the winery, where we chilled them overnight to maintain pristine condition. Our minimalist approach in the winery included pressing as whole bunches, wild fermentation and sparing lees stirring in a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barriques, hogsheads, and puncheons. We used 100% juice solids in the fermentation process, where temperatures ranged from 16-25°C.

After fermentation, each individual batch was topped and kept separate while aging further on lees for nine months until the final wine was assembled through meticulous barrel selection.

In Matt's Words
Here we are, another crack at it. That's the best thing about winemaking; each year is a clean slate, an opportunity to recreate and refine. 2025 was back to (almost) typical southwest WA vintage conditions. Chardonnay was harvested from mid-February. The vines' recovery from a warmer 2024 was evident, with some uneven shoot growth across some of our Reserve Chardonnay blocks.

This resulted in a lower-yielding vintage, as we handpicked only fully ripened bunches and left the rest behind. Again, stressful moments for our chief Jules, working through the rows in what were typically normal sections destined for the Reserve Chardonnay, demanding a little more attention than usual. Emma and I were almost permanently chained to the press in 2025. We tailored extraction to the millilitre to avoid bitter phenolics or any deviation from the purity of Gin Gin clone's identity.

We spent countless hours moving fermenting barrels around each hall to ensure we hit the right temperatures. Post-fermentation topping and stirring followed, and we tasted each batch fortnightly to block malolactic fermentation when needed, adding small amounts of SO2 on a barrel-by-barrel basis.

The 2025 Chardonnay bench blending exercise was an absolute treat. It was the swan song of Bridgeland's Chardonnay before exiting stage left from this wine's future, and we used slightly more new oak than before, at 40%. The wine could handle it, and the barrels tasted too good to pass up in the blend.

It's taken a good nine months for this wine to reveal itself. We've cracked a few bottles to check in here and there, but in the last few weeks this beauty has started to fully open up, walking a delicate line between perfectly ripe stone fruit and citrus notes. What I love most about this release is the sheer power and breadth of flavour. The combination of saline coastal influence and subtle lees-driven textures is alluring, with very smart and proud Burgundian oak wrapped around it all.

This wine is the yearly conclusion of our winemaking experience and an encapsulation of the detail involved from growing to blending, where we put our heart and soul into its making.

The 2025 Vintage
Adequate winter rainfall in 2024 replenished vineyard dams and soil moisture as the region headed toward budburst. Moderate temperatures followed throughout spring, ensuring healthy vine canopies with little disease pressure. This was followed by dry and warm conditions into summer while white varieties were picked. Netting was a logistical challenge due to a lack of regional marri blossom; thus, keeping birds out of the vineyard added additional work for the vineyard team. The 2025 vintage again displays Margaret River's incredible consistency with wines of balance, seamless natural acidity and fruitfulness. – Matt Buchan, Senior Winemaker

Technical Details
Alcohol: 13%
pH: 3.21
TA: 6.6g/L
Oak: Mixture of new (40%) and seasoned French oak barriques, hogsheads and puncheons
Time on lees: Nine months

Reviews
This is a stunning and stirring example of Margaret River chardonnay from what turned out to be an excellent year. It's immensely powerful, and the fruit was whole-bunch pressed, which has certainly added to its structural integrity. Got a mix of new and seasoned French oak, and then the lees were stirred, and that's brought in that textural feel and richness. Brings together the intense minerally fruit with a little gunflint complexity and a touch of lemon rind and grapefruit. Has a dry, savoury, slightly chalky acid finish. Really is a first-rate wine.
97 points. Ray Jordan

Stunning chardonnay. Intense with fruit, gently flinty, laced with nougat characters and then long and chalky through the finish. This wine delivers juicy fruit flavours complete with all the trimmings. Grilled peach, pineapple, lemonade, ozone, umami and a side-serve of pears and honeycomb. It's as delicious as it is fantastic.
96 points. Campbell Mattinson, Sep 2026

The Estate
Established in 1987, Deep Woods Estate has spent the better part of four decades carving out a reputation as one of Margaret River's finest producers. From its spectacular home in the northern reaches of the region to its extraordinary vineyard holdings across Yallingup, Wilyabrup and Karridale, Deep Woods has become a benchmark for contemporary Margaret River winemaking. The Reserve Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon have become genuine flag-bearers for the estate, wines that consistently demonstrate the depth, finesse and remarkable potential of this corner of Western Australia.