Geoff Merrill Wines Reserve Chardonnay 2023 from McLaren Vale and Coonawarra is a rich yet beautifully balanced chardy, shaped by a cool, extended growing season that delivered lower yields and excellent flavour concentration. It’s a proper dinner‑table white – generous, complex and still refreshingly tight.

Aromas roll through lime, lemon and apricot into tropical fruit, melon, cut straw and hints of cream, toast, cashew and lanolin from French oak. The palate is full of fruit and quite opulent without feeling fat, with stone fruit and citrus riding over a silky mid‑palate, well‑judged acidity tying everything together, and attractive oak giving structure and a zesty citrus‑peel finish.

This Reserve Chardonnay is spot on with roast chicken, richer seafood like scallops or salmon, and creamy pasta, and it works brilliantly with cashew‑based dishes and hard cheeses where its fruit and oak can really show their class.