Winemaker Notes
Pale straw with a green tinge. An enticing, complex array of citrus, lemon/lime rind and pith, with light pineapple and sweet pie crust. Inviting savory complexities of mushroom, ocean and flinty fire cracker complete the elegant perfume. A fleshy entrance with lovely weight and richness is supported by the structure of classic Heytesbury acid and pithy firmness. An almost cuddly core reveals beautiful lemon sponge characters, then finishes dry with hints of fresh sage and stone flint.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Deeply complex and so richly fruited, this is all wrapped in very tautly in a flavor-soaked and seamless chardonnay. Aromas of wet stones, yellow grapefruit, flint, green lemons, fresh oak and white peaches are all tightly arrayed. The palate has mouthwatering punch and crispness. Very assertive and driving with a sleek overall feel, but packed with powerful, pristine white-peach, lemon, apricot and green-mango flavors. So long. This is a modern benchmark.
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Decanter
Beautifully opulent with hints of flinty smoke, lemon oil, caramel and apricot on the nose, stone fruit, lemon sherbet and a red apple acidity on the palate.
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Wine Enthusiast
One of the most highly regarded Chardonnays in Australia, the 2018 Heytesbury shines. The reductive, flinty style typical to this wine is still there but is more reigned in these days: roasted hazelnuts layered with delicate citrus and stone fruit. The palate is beautifully complex and highly textural, nutty, mineral nuances flowing through to a lengthy finish. Elegant yet powerful, drinking gorgeously now but with the ability to age for several decades.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The medium to full-bodied 2018 Heytesbury Chardonnay is rich and dense, intensely concentrated and packed with intricate dried-spice nuances. Notes of crushed stone set the stage, while melon and white peach notes constitute the fruity core, developing taut citrus nuances on the long, refreshing finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Virginia Willcock makes this wine from her favored estate parcels, all of it Gingin clone, spontaneously fermented as unclarified juice in barrels, where it aged for nine months. It’s a powerfully concentrated chardonnay from a cool season, the wine’s shape and flavors changing the longer you spend in its company. It’s difficult and earthy at one moment, then concentrated with the scents of chamomile tea, then generous with lemon-butter flavor and fruit just beginning to burst from the dark bass notes of the wine. It tastes like a scallop, and it’s rich enough for lobster.
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Wine Spectator
Spicy, featuring tangy lemon curd, apricot and poached pear flavors, showing threads of nutmeg, peppery white flowers and spicy cedar that linger on the finish. Crisp, but with a suppleness to the texture.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Home to some of Australia’s most elegant and long-lived red and white wines, Margaret River is situated in the farthest reaches of Western Australia. Relatively warm and dry, the region is cooled by breezes from the Indian Ocean. Margaret River takes some inspiration from Bordeaux, producing top-quality Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux Blends with firm structure, mouthwatering acidity, balanced alcohol and notes of herbs and spice. For white wines, refreshing blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon as well as complex, age-worthy Chardonnays are regional specialties.