CHARDONNAY

2019 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay, Margaret River (revised note)

Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay on release is an achingly painful thing to drink, because once you’ve known the utter pleasure these wines bring at 5 or more years of age, it becomes a mess of cognitive dissonance to drink them so young. They are closed, taut, coiled, but more than anything, populated by rippling fruit that undulates untold through the interminably long finish. They typically don’t reveal their kaleidoscopic spice and prismatic fruit flavour until a little further down the track. So, all I can humbly do here, is place the vintage in context. Through the lens of the cool year, this glitters with a purity and finesse that is deeply attractive. Aligned in style with the 2017. EL 13.5% alc. / RRP $138 / Drink 2022–2042 Leeuwin Estate leeuwinestate.com.au

2020 Nocturne Wines Treeton SR Chardonnay, Margaret River

You’ve got to love Julian Langworthy. The man with the Midas touch. Not many could get away with a vinification note that reads: ‘100% chardonnay. All Treeton minus the cows.’ Tells us nothing. Thankfully, the wine has its own eloquent voice. Super-juicy acidity punches deep into the ripe, concentrated orchard fruit. The texture is wild and shapely and curvy and fine. What a wine. I mean it.

It’s salivatingly good. EL 13% alc. / RRP $36 / Drink 2021–2036 Nocturne Wines nocturnewines.com.au

2020 Howard Park Allingham Chardonnay, Margaret River

Creamy, saline, nutty... this is a powerful, yet effortless rendition of Allingham, with spooling briny acidity and enduring stone fruit through the finish. A lovely wine. Perhaps the best Allingham yet. EL 13% alc. / RRP $89 / Drink 2022–2037 Howard Park burchfamilywines.com.au

2020 Yarra Yering Carrodus Chardonnay, Yarra Valley

The inaugural bottling of Carrodus Chardonnay made entirely from estate-grown Bernard 95 clone. Whole-bunch pressed directly to one French 600L 3yo demimuid barrel. A deepish, bright green gold. A powerhouse Yarra chardonnay with ripe stone fruits, custard apple, spice and gentle reduction. Creamily textured, it’s also got great drive and acidity. PR 13% alc. / RRP $160 / Drink 2021–2028 Yarra Yering yarrayering.com

2020 Lethbridge Wines Chardonnay, Geelong

From a difficult year and a small crop comes a stunning chardonnay, packed in flavour and budding complexity. White stone fruit, citrus, mandarin rind, mango skin and spice all roam and build on the palate in tandem with a delicious honeycomb creamy texture. Acidity wields a powerful, invigorating presence. JP 13.6% alc. / RRP $55 / Drink 2022–2026 Lethbridge Wines lethbridgewines.com

2020 Cullen Wines

Kevin John,

Margaret River

2020 was a fast and short vintage with heartbreakingly low yields in Margaret River, yet it produced wines of effortless grace and poise. This is most certainly one of those. Like a rhythmic pulse of flavour in the mouth... steady, like a heartbeat. All elements are in harmony: fruit, acid, phenolics; they gently seesaw between each other, spooling out a seemingly never-ending trail of flavour. Breathtakingly beautiful, again. EL 13.9% alc. / RRP $150 / Drink 2021–2035 Cullen Wines cullenwines.com.au

2021 Keith Tulloch Wine Ewen Vineyard Chardonnay, Hunter Valley

A shaded site defined by deep gravels, in the Broke Fordwich subregion. A tensile, reductively handled sibling to the broader Eagle’s Rest. Majority tank fermentation, the reason. Stirred in high-class oak, to embellish texture. Lime curd and struck-match notes, reminiscent of Chassagne Montrachet’s great Nöel Ramonet. Idiosyncratic, in the best sense. Pummelling riffs on nectarine and white peach drive across a long, pungent, affably creamy finish. A fine counterpoint to the range that melds flavour, power and precision. NG 13% alc. / RRP $40 / Drink 2021–2030 Keith Tulloch Wine keithtullochwine.com.au

2020 Bicknell fc Applecross Chardonnay, Yarra Valley

The personal project of Oakridge winemaker David Bicknell with his partner Nicky Harris. A bright green gold, this opens with green apple, lemon curd, some Japanese pickled ginger and a touch of freshly picked spearmint, while the fresh, nicely complex and compact, finely tuned palate finishes gently vanillin and long. PR 13% alc. / RRP $50 / Drink 2022–2026 Bicknell fc bicknellfc.com