World Wine – Youthful and vibrant with layered aromatics of stone fruit, baking spices, and a chalky nuance. Palate is poised with great length, vanilla, hazelnut and cream, very fine texture and minerality. Seamless, elegant and mouth-watering. - 98 points + Double Gold medal at the 2021 New Zealand International Wine Show.
The Wine Front – Struck match, preserved lemon, pine-lime, aniseed, cashew and spice. It’s glossy, with a bit of parmesan rind savouriness, bright grapefruity acidiy, creamy cashew, excellent intensity, and a flinty yet rich finish of excellent length.
World Wine – "Intense, mouthwatering chardonnay with lime, pineapple, oyster shell/mineral, hazelnut and subtle spicy oak flavours. Delicious high-energy wine in a rather Chablis-esque style with purity and power." - 96pts, Bob Campbell MW
James Suckling – Inviting aromas of flint, matchstick, grated nutmeg, dried lemon rind and sliced grapefruit. Medium-bodied with silky texture. Fresh and bright fruit turns more savory with herbs and spice coming to the forefront. Layered. Tannic, tight finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink now. Screw cap.
World Wine – 'Big, ripe, complex, mouth-filling Chardonnay with ripe peach, citrus, hazelnut, brioche and spicy oak flavours. A generously proportioned wine that's rich and textural with a lingering finish. Delicious now but with potential. Drink: 2020-2023'
95 POINTS
Bob Campbell, therealreview.com
The Wine Front – “Nectarine, green mango, grapefruit, a saline sort of fino edge here, and a little ginger and white pepper. Light, frisky, green apple and grapefruit, again quite saline and chalky in texture, quite the sappy and sapid thing, green olive, a subtle oatmeal creaminess, but it’s the salty and electric acidity that really drives it. And long too. Excellent. And very interesting to drink.” - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
The Wine Front – “Peach, grapefruit, butterscotch pudding with vanilla custard, but really tight with intense acidity through some glossy caramel, with a little spice in tow, and a distinct brine character. No shortage of zip and flavour. Lemon/lime and peach on a lively acid etched finish, some toast and sizzled butter in the aftertaste. Good.” - Gary Walsh, The Winefront
The Wine Front – "Nectarine, apple, lemon zest, cashew, white pepper, a little struck match. It's saline and has juicy green apple flavour and sour tang to acidity, a nutty sake-like flavour, a light powdery texture, and a tight and savoury finish of good length and gentle lemon peel bitterness. Interesting and very good." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
Huon Hooke – "Taut, intense and complex chardonnay with nectarine, ripe peach, mineral/oyster shell, nutty yeast lees and subtle spicy oak flavours. Very appealing now but with a promising future. Clearly a great vintage." - Bob Campbell (The Real Review)
Chardonnay holds a special place in the hearts of wine lovers due to its versatility and wide range of expressions, depending on where it's grown and how it's made. Originating in the Burgundy region of France, this grape has found homes in almost every wine-producing region around the world.
In its birthplace, Chardonnay produces some of the world's most revered white wines. In regions like Chablis, the wines are often mineral-driven, with high acidity and lean profiles. Move south to the Côte d'Or, and the wines gain richness, complexity, and often a touch of oak.
The New World offers its own expressions. Places like California, especially regions like Napa and Sonoma, produce Chardonnays known for their full-bodied nature, often accompanied by flavors of ripe tropical fruits, vanilla, and butter. Meanwhile, regions like Australia's Margaret River or New Zealand's Marlborough produce wines that strike a balance between Old World minerality and New World fruitiness.
This grape's adaptability and the myriad of styles it can produce is what makes Chardonnay a perennial favorite. Whether you prefer unoaked, mineral-driven whites or richer, oaked versions, Chardonnay offers something for every palate, reflecting the diversity and richness of the world's wine regions.
Chardonnay is the most planted white wine grape worldwide and is cultivated in nearly every wine-producing country. Chardonnay is a noble varietal, but it’s also sturdy. It thrives in cold and warm climates, from the frosty vineyards in Champagne to sunny California. The question is. Why is Chardonnay so popular? And what does it taste like? Is Chardonnay dry or sweet? Let’s talk about the illustrious grape and the wines made with it. Few wine grapes are as versatile as Chardonnay, so the wines made with it are always a pleasing surprise. Here’s what you want to know about Chardonnay.
Chardonnay is a white wine grape native to Burgundy. It is the offspring of the equally famous Pinot Noir and the rare Gouais Blanc and has been cultivated since the Middle Ages. Chardonnay produces medium- to full-bodied white wines, which can be fermented and aged in stainless steel or spent time in oak barrels. Most wines made with Chardonnay are fermented to dryness, meaning winemakers allow the yeast to turn all the sugar in the grape juice into alcohol. Chardonnay produces dry wines. Of course, in wine, there’s an exception to every rule. Producers in the New World sometimes allow Chardonnay grapes to hang in the vine for weeks after they ripen. These late harvested grapes can become sweet wine. The category, though, is rare.
Chardonnay produces some of the most concentrated white wines in the world, and concentration is a synonym for age-worthiness. That’s why fine White Burgundy, one of the nicest Chardonnays, can be aged for years, if not decades. The same goes for high-end Chardonnay produced elsewhere. Enjoy youthful Chardonnay within its first three years after the vintage. Oak-aged examples can still be enjoyable after the five-year mark. After that, only the most concentrated wines made with extraordinary grapes from prestigious sites will still be at their prime. However, wine doesn’t go bad in a day, but it will lose properties as it decays.
Chardonnay expresses its terroir nicely, so wines made with the grape will taste different depending on the climatic conditions where the grapes grew. Chardonnay from cold climates might offer scents of green apples and pears along with citrus notes and minerality. Chardonnay from cold temperatures will taste like golden apples and white flowers. Warmer climates will make Chardonnay smell and taste like tropical fruit, including mango and pineapple. Since Chardonnay often undergoes Malo-lactic fermentation, you can also expect buttery scents along with yeast aromas reminiscent of pastries. And if the wine is aged in oak casks, it will also have brown spices and vanilla on the nose and palate.
Chardonnay might be versatile, but its producers can only use it to make a few wine styles. Un-oaked Chardonnay and oak-aged Chardonnay are the most common, and they’re always white and dry. Producers can also make sparkling wine with Chardonnay, which can be blended with red grapes to produce sparkling rosé. If you want to see what the noble Burgundian grape can do, explore our selection of the best Chardonnay in Australia. Only at World Wine. What is your favourite wine made with Chardonnay?
We aim to have all wines be vintage specific. In the case the listed vintage is out of stock and you note you would like that particular vintage, we will inform you via email for approval to go ahead.
Delivery Times
To be able to supply such a unique & extensive range of boutique wines, we don't hold much of the inventory. So with us, there is the added step of receiving the wine from our local suppliers before it is dispatched to you. Most orders are dispatched within 3-6 working days.
Quality Guarantee
Replacement or refund offered if bottles are faulty or damaged. All our deliveries are insured against loss, however you must notify us in a reasonable amount of time.
Sending a Gift
If you would like to include a gift message with your order, please enter that in the order instructions section. We'll print your message in a lovely font on A5 paper. We also won't include the invoice. Tracking will be sent to the email on file.
We aim to have all wines be vintage specific. In the case the listed vintage is out of stock and you note you would like that particular vintage, we will inform you via email for approval to go ahead.
To be able to supply such a unique & extensive range of boutique wines, we don't hold much of the inventory. So with us, there is the added step of receiving the wine from our local suppliers before it is dispatched to you. Most orders are dispatched within 3-6 working days.
Replacement or refund offered if bottles are faulty or damaged. All our deliveries are insured against loss, however you must notify us in a reasonable amount of time.
If you would like to include a gift message with your order, please enter that in the order instructions section. We'll print your message in a lovely font on A5 paper. We also won't include the invoice. Tracking will be sent to the email on file.