Description
- 2025 Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay
- 2025 Garagiste Merricks Chardonnay
- 2025 Garagiste Le Stagiaire Pinot Noir
- 2025 Garagiste Balnarring Pinot Noir
2025 Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay
Another fantastic release here of one of Victoria's best-value Chardonnays.
Barney Flanders pulls from a tidy mix of Mornington vineyards here, anchored by 25-year-old vines across Balnarring, Merricks North, Merricks and Tuerong. All whole-bunch pressed, wild fermented in big 500L puncheons, and left alone on lees for seven months. Just long enough to get the palate weight ramped up a fraction before bottling.
Gee, it looks good, even at this early stage of its life. There’s a cool glide to the palate - citrus skin, white nectarine, maybe a flick of jasmine - with a subtle nip of oak and a gentle creamy ripple from partial malo. It's class-act Chardonnay that feels much more premium than the price tag suggests.
There is never a lot of this wine around and given the value on offer, it's no wonder. Great buying.
95 points
"Great value, great wine. A lovely balance of citrus and white nectarine with ginger flower and a neat tug of phenolics. The palate is neatly composed, with a flutter of light lees and juicy acidity. Up there as one of my go-to drinks because everything about it is just right."
- Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
94 points
"This is juicy and flavoursome... It’s such a tasty Chardonnay. Everything is in the right place."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
2025 Garagiste Le Stagiaire Pinot Noir
Every year, Barney Flanders takes a selection of some of his favourite Pinot parcels from his Mornington sites - Balnarring, Red Hill, Merricks Grove and now Merricks North - and throws down a Pinot that makes the rest of the $35ish crowd in the region look a bit undercooked.
Merricks North leads the blend this year, with plush, perfumed Dijon clones lifting the deep, structural MV6 from the other sites. Whole berries, wild ferments, a short spell on skins, then time in large oak and concrete before bottling it with no fining and no filtering.
It’s got a real Mornington weight and presence to it. Ripe red fruits, a flicker of spice, and a smooth ride of tannin through the finish. When we tasted the 2025, we commented that it feels like Barney's pulled back on the structure and upped the slurpability in this release. It's hard to picture a better value entry into Mornington Pinot than this little beauty.
This is one of our most popular wines every year. How Barney manages to get this quality at this price point never ceases to amaze us but we're glad he does and hope he never stops!
95 points
"The value belies the quality as there’s always a lot of detail to this range, yet it's so approachable... A wine you want to drink on a cold day while staying toasty in front of a fire."
- Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
2025 Garagiste Balnarring Pinot Noir
Balnarring always shows the more generous, dark-fruited side of what Barney Flanders does down on the Mornington Peninsula. While his Merricks site is all about wind-swept structure, this patch of old vines on richer soils turns out a pinot with a bit more flesh on its bones.
The 2025 season required some quick thinking and sharp harvest dates to keep that essential cool-climate freshness intact. In the shed, Barney keeps his hands off the wheel, letting wild yeasts do the job before a quiet spell in seasoned French oak. He doesn't filter or fine the juice, leaving all the natural grit and personality right there in the bottle.
It pours a bright, translucent ruby colour. It jumps out of the glass with a deep, briary mix of sour cherries, forest twigs and a cool, earthy bitter edge. The mouthfeel is satisfyingly pulpy with a tight line of native acidity and fine, stemmy tannin that keeps the whole thing savoury and structural.
High quality Pinot from a modern Mornington star.
95 points
"This wine provided one of those “gosh the flavours are still going” moments. This is elite juice for a completely reasonable price."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
Customer Reviews
| Price Bracket | $41 to $50 |
| Country | Australia |
| Region | Mornington Peninsula |
| Australian State | VIC |
| Feature |
High Score |
| Critic Score |
95 96 |
| Size | 10 |
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