2022 Bannockburn Chardonnay

Whole-bunch pressed and settled overnight, the juice was then wild-fermented in a mixture of 500-litre French oak hogsheads and puncheons (20% new), with 70% undergoing malolactic. The wine spent 10 months on lees with no stirring.

Brilliant pale straw colour with subtle highlights of green around the edges and a watery hue. A mix of white peach, pear and dried honey aromas are delivered with terrific intensity followed by hints of grapefruit, lemon butter and gun flint. Elegant and refined with a delicate creaminess to the mouth feel, white peach, pear and grapefruit flavours are served up over traces of biscuity oak, lemon butter and grapefruit. Finishes long and finessed with a balanced freshness.
Drink over the next 5-6 years.
Alc. 13%

Other Reviews….
Grown on a range of vineyards across the Bannockburn holdings, from 1976 plantings through to the most recent (2016).
Pure fruit, perfect balance, lots of length. It will need time to build complexity but everything here appears to be in excellent working order. Pear, apple, grapefruit and white peach flavours come littered with sea shells and smoky, cedarwood oak. Nothing is overdone; everything glides along. Drink 2025-2030+
94 Points
Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

Fruit from four vineyard blocks planted between 1976 and 2016; hand picked, whole-bunch pressed, wild-yeast fermented in French hogsheads and puncheons (20% new); 10 months' maturation. Fills the mouth with velvety richness (70% mlf doubtless the source), and sweeps you up into its folds. Very well pitched and structured. Drink by 2037.
96 points
James Halliday - Australian Wine Companion