Bannockburn’s Chardonnay has a track record most Victorian producers would give their eye teeth for. The quality and style can be traced back to the estate’s exceptional, organically farmed sites; the Olive Tree Hill Vineyard was planted in 1976 and abuts the S.R.H parcel, while the Winery Block was planted in 1981.

Both lie on volcanic soils over limestone clays with an average vine age of around 35 years. This year’s estate Chardonnay also includes fruit from Stuart Block (1997) and Kelly Lane Vineyard (2016). Due to the minuscule yields in 2023, the Bannockburn team could not make a Grigsby Chardonnay, so fruit from this exceptional, close-planted block was also included in this wine, with all that entails.

As is the norm, the fruit was pressed as whole bunches and wild fermented in a mixture of French hogsheads and puncheons (20% new). This year, 70% of the blend went through malolactic conversion, and the wine spent 10 months maturing on lees with no stirring. Campbell Mattinson’s note below is spot on―this is a vivid, full-throttle, substantive Chardonnay, saturated in flavour with crystalline cut, fleshy richness and incredible length. A stone-cold stunner.

“There’s ample flavour and texture here but the length of this wine is wow. It tastes of grilled peaches, green pineapple, straw, herbs and cedarwood. There’s real flavour here, and a creaminess to the texture, but there’s a real cut to the wine as well. It arguably needs a bit of time to soften.

It thrusts its way through the finish, drawing flavour along with it. In 15 year’s time people will be pulling well-cleared bottles of this out and marvelling at how youthful it seems.” 94+ points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front