Description
Bannockburn Vineyards (25 kms north west of Geelong) have been one of the trailblazers of Australian fine wine for over 37 years. This is made by the new winemaker Matt Holmes and we can tell a great Australian Estate is clearly in safe hands.
There can’t be many Victorian Chardonnays with a track record as impressive as Bannockburn’s. The quality and style on offer can be traced back to the estate’s exceptional, organically farmed sites, the Olive Tree Hill Vineyard (planted in 1976 and abutting the S.R.H parcel) and Winery Block (1981), both on volcanic soils over limestone clays with an average vine age of around 35 years. Recently, the Estate Chardonnay has also included fruit from the Kelly Lane Vineyard (Clone 76), and this release also includes a small component from Stuart’s Block. 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.
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.
Sourced from Bannockburn estate vineyards spanning plantings from 1976 to 2016, this Chardonnay draws on diverse sites including Olive Tree Hill, Winery Block, Stuart Block, Grigsby and Kelly Lane, with clonal material P58, Bernard 76, 95 and 96. Handpicked fruit was whole bunch pressed, wild fermented in French hogsheads and puncheons (25% new oak), with 70% malolactic fermentation and 10 months’ lees maturation without stirring. The 2025 vintage—Bannockburn’s earliest harvest on record—was defined by a warm, dry season and a compressed harvest, delivering wines of generosity, clarity and precision. The palate shows ripe stone fruit, grapefruit and pear, carried by bright acidity to a long, composed finish of tension and purity.
Is this Australia’s finest Chardonnay? The wine is built for longevity. Decant this profoundly complex and yet ultra fine chardonnay or cellar for a couple of years.
96+ points, Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion “ A complex mélange of stone fruit, quince, apple blossom, acacia and marine notes. The palate is equally complex and totally mouth-filling while remaining light on its feet. Finishes silky-textured and very long. A class act that will provide a lot of enjoyment over the next six to eight years.”
96 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front “There are yellow stone fruits characters here, and an array of sweet spice notes, but it’s the flesh, the rush and the juice of grapefruit and ripe pear flavours that both dominate and seduce. This wine really does make you dive quickly in for more. There’s a subtle smokiness, some tonic and mineral-like notes, and an especially noticeable (extra) linger to the finish. This is one of those wines where the acidity itself feels flushed with flavour. The aftertaste then adds some pebble-stone characters, just because it can. What a wine.”
RRP $80 Our Special Price $62.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine
