Distinguished Langtons Classification. Bannockburn release a Chardonnay each year that accurately and faithfully reflects the merits of an exceptional terroir. This is far from easy, it is only achieved through dedication and resolve.

$4499each $537DOZEN EACH DOZEN Bannockburn manage some of the finest Chardonnay vines in Australia, dry grown and over thirty years of age. Techniques employed to vinify the superlative fruit follow the traditions of Burgundy, everything is done with thought and care, never compromising on quality. Organic practices and extended maceration before a fastidious barrel selection achieve a wine that's exciting and complex. Grapes are inoculated to indigenous yeasts and barrel fermented in a selection of French Allier oak barriques at natural temperatures followed by a spell on sedimentery lees to promote malolactic, a softening and enrichening process which infuses the wine with a rich middle palate and old world characters of butter and cashew.

Pale, straw colour with hints of green. Complex nose displaying chalky minerality, almond meal, grapefruit pith and a creamy biscuit character derived from extended lees contact. The palate is very long with a lovely texture and weight. A hint of creaminess from some malo-lactic involvement. The palate is full without being broad, tight without being austere. Wonderful back palate persistence and structure, the wine goes on and on, a lovely, long, textural finish.

French influences abound at Bannockburn, where Sauvignon Blanc draws inspiration from Sancerre, the emphasis being on elegance and depth of flavour. This is definitely not another boring, grassy, single dimension style.

$2699each $321DOZEN EACH DOZEN From fruit grown to two estate vineyard blocks, one bearing vines over twenty years of age, the other slightly younger, both are low yielding. The maritime influenced climes surrounding the Bannockburn vineyards make for cool and stable ripening, combined with unique soils, providing sensational conditions for growing excellent Sauvignon Blanc. Each site enjoys it's own mesoclimate, the most recent planting consisting of new French clones with greater vine density. Grapes are hand picked in two batches, the majority are vinified in tank to retain vital fruit expression, the smaller component is treated to barrel ferments in small French oak casks with extended lees contact.

Clear, bright appearance, a yellow straw colour and hints of green. The nose is quite complex with the classic mineral, cassis and Loire Valley gunflint characters. Fragrant honey and interesting smoky fume scents from the Italian Acacia puncheons. Good weight and texture on the middle palate before assertive acidity drives through the wine, providing excellent length and persistence.

Sourced from vines planted in 1988 to quartz alluvial and volcanic soils on the lower slopes of Bindi. The site is special, increasingly low impact, organic outcomes are implemented, production varies from 300 to 600 dozen each vintage.

$4499each $537DOZEN EACH DOZEN Composition Chardonnay is grown to a 1½ hectare plot. Fastidious small vineyard management regimes are employed, hand pruning, frequent passes, at least ten for each vine, vertical shoot positioned canopies and hand harvesting. Composition is fermented in a selection of new and seasoned French oak barrels, some are inoculated with cultured yeast, others are vinified without any addition of yeasts. The fermented wine is lees stirred every week over winter and treated to a quarter of malolactic conversion. The wine is racked around eight months after vintage and returned to barrel for a further three months before bottling. Composition spends just under eleven months in barrel, ten on sedimentery lees.

Light straw gold colour. The nose is fine and quite complex, floral and gently spiced with a delicious mealy, pulp mineral Chardonnay fragrance. An intense, mineral wine fully ripe but lean, taught and intense with savory, creamy elements. The fruit complexities range through white peaches and nectarine, lemons, grapefruit and nashi pear. The palate is fresh and intense, walking the line of mouth filling textures combined with delicacy and finesse, a beautifully fine and flavoursome wine. Composition can characterized by it's fragrant notes of orange blossom, nectarine stone, spice and subtle nuttiness over a vibrant, tight and lengthy palate highlighted by clean acidity, wonderful texture and superb length.

Set in the verdant hills of Victoria's beautiful Yarra Valley, Chandon continue to over deliver, completely dedicated to the production of the finest quality, cool climate wines. Their excellence of their renowned sparkling wines is due in no small part to the quality of the estate's Chardonnay.

$1999each $237DOZEN EACH DOZEN The Domaine Chandon and Green Point operations are located amongst some of the most superlative Chardonnay vineyards of the Yarra Valley. Moet & Chandon first purchased the Green Point property with the intention of establishing a leading Australian brand. Vines were planted to soils made rich after many decades of mixed farming. Fruit is sourced primarily from the cooler, elevated sites of the Upper Yarra Valley, off vines planted to red volcanic soils. Vineyards in this region are renowned for producing Chardonnay with citrus flavours and high natural acidity at moderate sugar levels. Parcels of fruit from the lower reaches of the Valley floor contribute lovely soft stone fruit characters.

Pale straw with lustrous shades of green. The aroma expresses pristine varietal characters of white nectarine, ripe citrus and stone fruit as well as a subtle flavour profile of sweet, exotic spice. The palate is complex, structured and layered showing excellent balance between the expression of vibrant fruit and the secondary characters of roasted spice, soft cheese and toasty characters derived from fermentation, aging and lees stirring in French oak.

Good growers know that to produce exceptional wines, they must start with top quality fruit. The scale of operations for most Yarra Valley vineyards borders on the boutique, making impracticable the automation which other regions enjoy. Hands on viticulture and a reliance on the vagaries of mother nature may be traditionalist and old hat, but close contact with the vines yields the finest fruit. A Chardonnay that's elegant with exuberant aromas of stonefruit and vanilla, closely followed by a buttery palate of cashews and citrus, melon and peach.

$999each $117DOZEN EACH DOZEN Yarra Valley Chardonnay is a distinctive Australian style of wine, complex, fruit driven and food friendly. Crafted by devoted winemakers and growers who utilize organic methods in their vineyards and practise traditional as well as modern techniques throughout the vinification. A number of tasks are still done by hand, cultivation, pruning and picking, hand pressing, plunging and racking. The care and attention as well as the foibles that are part of the winemaking process, give good wines their personality. Through good viticultural practices the fruit is made to ripen to great levels of concentration, translating into a finished Chardonnay of good complexity and fine balance.

Colour is a pale straw. A fine bouquet of peaches and melon, limes and nuttyness. This elegant Chardonnay has a creamy palate brimming with citrus, vanillan and delicate butter character. A bright and zesty, medium bodied wine with a rich front palate that continues smoothly with great length and power to finish on supple hints of hawthorn and toast. A Chardonnay that's well ahead in it's class, drinking beautifully on release.

With well in excess of a hundred hectares under vine, completely estate owned and operated, Coldstream Hills can exercise their options to source grapes from a litany of Upper Yarra as well as Lower Yarra Valley vineyards, ensuring that only the best quality fruit is included into their profound Chardonnays. In lesser years, Coldstream does not release a Reserve, directing all their finest fruit into this very wine.

$2499each $297DOZEN EACH DOZEN The Yarra Valley's cooler, slow ripening climes yield the most distinctive wines. Chardonnay typifies the Coldstream Hills style, with good varietal expression foremost on the bouquet and palate. There is an emphasis placed on showcasing the fruit and deriving length of flavour. The aim is to construct a Chardonnay wine characterised by elegance and finesse, enhanced by subtle oak complexity. Grapes are selected on the basis of heightened flavour profiles, good balance between natural sugar and acid. Barrel fermented and matured in a combination of new and seasoned French oak barriques with occasional lees stirring, the wine is vinified without any malolactic treatment to remain an essentially fruit driven style.

Pale straw green in colour. The nose shows attractive characters of citrus, nectarine and quince with underlying toasty oak. White peach, nectarine and lemon characters dominate the palate, with cashew nut barrel ferment characters, toasty French oak and slatey minerality providing additional complexity. Coldstream Hills represents a classic cool climate style of Chardonnay with excellent intensity of fruit, rejuvenating acids and tightly reined in, well controlled oak.

The pinnacle of cool climate winemaking and viticulture, made from a very strict selection of the best grapes, with a component from the low yielding House Block. Produced only in years where the quality is deemed to be exceptional, from a selection of mature, low yielding vineyards. Stylistically, the wine display attractive cool climate fruit characters of stone fruit and citrus. Oak plays an important role, but does not dominate. Secondary characters of barrel fermentation and soil/ grape solids derived minerality add further layers of complexity.

$5499each $657DOZEN EACH DOZEN The culmination of a strict selection process, where the quality of the final wine is paramount. In addition to the twenty year old House and G Blocks,the Briarston Vineyard provides an outstanding resource of French Bernard clone which adds elegance and length. Gentle handling practices, including whole bunch pressing are carried out, with each batch undergoing barrel fermentation in new and used French oak. Wines remain on yeast lees post fermentation for approximately ten months until assembling. In order to maintain natural acidity, malolactic fermentation is not encouraged. Matured in a combination of new and one year old French oak barriques.

Pale straw with a tint of green. The nose shows attractive white peach, quince and citrus notes with underlying toasty oak and minerality. A tightly structured wine with good acid line and length. The palate exhibits attractive stonefruit and citrus combined with cashew nut barrel ferment characters. Flinty, minerally notes are evident in the background and will continue to develop as the wine ages. Completely barrel fermented in French oak, an exemplary cool climate Chardonnay, with exquisite complexity and fine length.

Fashioned from harvests of Chardonnay grown to the cooler, slower ripening Forest Hut property at Moonambel. The climes are three to four degrees cooler than Dalwhinnie all year round, so vintage arrives some three weeks later. Vines make the most of the extra time on offer to ripen grapes fully and develop vibrant fruit characters, translating into a solid Chardonnay wine with juicy apple complexity.

$2199each $261DOZEN EACH DOZEN David Jones planted new vines to estate property on the Moonambel valley floor in the 1990s, just four kilometres down the road from Dalwhinnie. These younger Forest Hut blocks were established with a view to supplying other wineries until plantings came of age. Now fully mature, these unirrigated and dry farmed, well canopied, vertically shoot positioned vines are yielding harvests of the most splendid Chardonnay. The grapes are harvested, chilled and airbag pressed before being inoculated and pumped to barrel for three weeks of cool fermentation. Upon completion the wine is treated to six months maturation in a selection of well seasoned, three and four year old French oak barriques.

Deep pale straw colour. Bouquet offers lovely tropical passionfruit and pear fruit aromas with a hint of spice. Palate displays crunchy fruit characters with a slight savoury edge. A fresh and crisp Chardonnay wine exhibiting elegance and restraint, the ideal accompaniement to calamari, braised white meats or brie.

De Bortoli are about soil and season, the personality of wine is derived from the imperfections of nature. An exemplary Yarra Valley effort, exhibiting complex fruit over barrel ferment and nutty undertones. The palate is textured and elegant with a long, balanced finish that's just gorgeous.

$2499each $297DOZEN EACH DOZEN De Bortoli work to the belief that sustainable vineyard practices deliver exceptional quality wines as well as providing real benefits to the environment. Vibrant characters are preserved throughout vinification with gentle, low intervention techniques, creating a wine with varietal definition and purity. Parcels of Chardonnay are selected from four estate properties, hand picked off mature, low yielding vines which consistently produce the finest quality fruit. Grapes are whole bunch crushed and pressed to extract good phenolics for texture and minerality. Juices are settled overnight before racking to older French oak casks for a touch of lees stirring and wild, indigenous fermentations. Alcohol 12.0%

Light straw with a green edge. Refreshing citrus lift with background notes of hazelnuts and slight, toasty aromas. Tight lean citrus like fruit. A textured palate which shows savoury characters of hazelnuts wound together with some balanced phenolics to give length and longevity.

Fruit from the superlative Dixons Creek property continues to be the focus for tremendous single vineyard efforts by De Bortoli. There is a common thread in the detail and texture of wine from these older vineyards as influenced by the growing season. Two splendid plots of vine established in 1981 and 1990 yield harvests of the most exquisite Yarra Valley Chardonnay, to be fashioned into a textural, generous wine by the talented De Bortoli team.

$4499each $537DOZEN EACH DOZEN Vines are planted north to south, soils are highly mineral siltstones which produce a most interesting wine. Blocks which can enjoy less exposure contribute the greatest detail to the final wine. When optimum flavour in the ripening berries is achieved, grapes are hand picked, whole bunch crushed and pressed to extract some good phenolics for texture and minerality. Juices are allowed to ferment naturally in older French oak casks. Lees are stirred regularly until spring. The finished wine is treated to a term of ten months in a selection of older 225 Litres French oak barriques. Alcohol 12.0%

Pale yellow with green tinges. Complex nutty mineral nose, smooth citrus notes, flintyness and peach. Tight lean citrus fruit with hazelnut undertones, a long mineral/ fruit palate showing complexity and balance. Long flavoured, textural, a bliss with gnocchi and sage.

De Bortoli can lay claim to a tradition of compelling Chardonnay wines. Their award winning efforts have made an essential contribution to the evolution of Chardonnay in Australia. Grapes for Vat 7 are selected from good vineyards which can yield the quality of fruit characterized by the luscious nectarine flavours that are so central to the style. A course of barrel ferments, malolactic and exposure to sedimentery yeast lees in oak makes for a richly textured Chardonnay wine with good colour, creamy textures and excellent palate richness.

$999each $117DOZEN EACH DOZEN The winemaking team take regular trips to some of the finest Victorian vineyards, assembling parcels of fruit for the creation of a vibrant, young Chardonnay wine. Grapes are harvested throughout the cool of night and delivered promptly to the wineworks at Bilbul for vinification. Following inoculation to choice yeasts, juices are settled and racked, a warm fermentation and extended lees contact achieves a wine full of flavour and structure. A small portion completes natural malolactic in barrel, a third of the wine is fermented in seasoned American and French oak barriques for a fortnight. Components are left in barrel on lees to mature for ten months. Alcohol 13.1%

Pale straw in colour. Lifted nose of white peaches and nectarine, citrus and melon with soft vanillin/ almond oak characters adding complexity. A medium bodied wine showing citrus fruit and floral flavours, finishing with a creamy nutty texture. Already drinking well immediately on release, Vat 7 is a great match to chicken, seafood or white sauced pasta recipes.

Diamond Valley are highly accomplished at Chardonnay on many levels. Devotees of fine Yarra Valley Chardonnays will find Blue Label fully engrossing for it's complexity and seamless integration, totally refreshing for it's reliance on more fruit and less oak.

$2299each $273DOZEN EACH DOZEN Diamond Valley Vineyards has enjoyed outstanding acclaim for its wines, amassing a tally of medals quite out of proportion to it's tiny size. It remains one of Victoria's leading smaller wineries by adhering to the founding philosophy, placing the pursuit of quality before the production of larger quantities. Grapes for Blue Label are sourced from the best cool climate Yarra Valley vineyards, harvested on the basis of varietal definition and full ripenes. Parcels are treated to traditional vinification and crafted to the most exacting Diamond Valley standards. The final cuvée exhibits fine acid balance, a supple oak treatment, fully ripe fruit characters and exemplary regionality. Approx 13.5%

Colour is a vibrant mid straw. The bouquet shows youthful yet complex aromas of white peach, honeysuckle, lime and melon with a touch of truffle. Lovely, lemon scents, a fine yet fruity Chardonnay with a piercing steeliness before an overlay of ripeness, honeyed melon and caramelized peach. The dry palate is multi-layered, vibrant with good stonefruit, honey and nutty oak, finishing with a smooth creaminess. Represents pure enjoyment in a forward drinking Chardonnay.