2018 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay

Brilliant pale straw colour with a greenish tint to the edges and a watery hue. Possessing an air of sophistication, the nose offers up a refined yet intense aromatic profile of white peach and nectarine fruits which meld into dried honey, biscuity oak, nougat, light cashew and subtle gun flint. Possessing terrific presence and power yet only mid weighted, concentrated fleshy white peach and nectarine fruits flood the palate with elements of dried honey, almond, biscuit, subtly toasted oak, spicy nougat, light cinnamon and delicate infusions of gun flint then chiming in. Gently creamy yet fresh in its textural feel with an exceptionally long and complex finish. Yet another magnificent Chardonnay from Leeuwin Estate which will only get better with bottle age.
Drink over the next 6-8 years.
Alc. 13.5%

Other Reviews…..
Let's put it this way. This is the closest I have come to awarding a wine 100 points...Stellar wine from a stellar vintage. The remarkable this is that this is a wine 100 percent barrel fermented in new French oak barriques with regular lees stirring for 11 months - and it certainly doesn't taste excessive, or even slightly oak. It has such high-fidelity purity with complex seductive aromatics of vanilla bean and light oatmeal with a cutting minerality and spicy lift. But the palate, oh the palate. This is where things start to explode. Power, poise and persistence with a dry savouriness balancing the intense ripe fruit. It is such a long finish with an ever so slightly, charry finish completing a remarkable wine.
99+ points
Ray Jordan - The West Australian

25 reviews of Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay (prior to this one) and the lowest we’ve ever rated it is 93/100. Amazing really.
The first thing I noticed here was the intensity. The fruit intensity. It’s a striking wine, explosive in a refined way, elegant and textural at once, persistent. Its presence and power can be admired and enjoyed now but wow does this have a future, and a long one. White peach, citrus, pear, sweet cedar and almonds. The whole is more than its parts. It’s beautiful, pure, exemplary. Drink 2023-2030+
96 points
Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front