Wine Region: Western Australia

(2026)

Always a superb wine, Virginia Willcock's top Chardonnay is made from the gingin clone, fermented with wild yeast, and aged in French barrels, 52% of which was new oak. This wine always has ripeness and the winemaker's signature flinty character, but I have to say the 2023 is a beauty.

The combination of those components and winemaking style mean there's buttercream, vanilla and hints of tropical fruit, but a steely precision where gunpowder and Lapsang souchong notes add layers of intrigue. Mid-palate the fruit is sweet and ripe, creamy and mouth-filling, with plenty of concentration. Lemon pith grip is evident in a long, savoury, chewy finish that still retains elegance and freshness.

Heytesbury 2023 is a superb Chardonnay for drinking now, or for medium term cellaring.

(2025) A blend of 63% Semillon and 37% Sauvignon Blanc, this is fermented in stainless steel and sees no oak. It's a classic white Bordeaux blend, the European region that was a model for the wines of Margaret River - white and red - from the beginning. For those who find straight antipodean Sauvignon too much, The majority Semillon here rounds-out the palate and supresses some of the Sauvignon exuberance, but doesn't obliterate it: the wine still has gooseberry and passionfruit, but also lime peel and lemongrass, and a stone fruit quality. The palate is juicy and fresh, but with some textural richness. Watch the video for more information.

(2025) Partially barrel-fermented in French oak, Cherubino say that Laissez Faire reflects a hands-off approach to winemaking. A very attractive nose here, showing more than a hint of paraffin/wax character, but abundant crisp apple and lime fruit too. Any oak influence is very subtle, pehaps a touch of creamy almond in the background. The palate is bone-dry with a searing core of acidity that gives a mouth-watering, slightly saline finish in a wine with very good texture and length. Though labelled as Great Southern, the fruit in this vintage was specifically from Frankland River I believe.

(2025) Blended with around 10% of Bordeaux varieties aged in a mix of new and older French oak barrels for 16 months. There's a graphite and clove spice om the nose over blue-black fruits. A little raspberry and olive lift of herb and floral notes adds another layer. The palate is supple and lithe, sweet black fruit runs into creamy tannins, a swathe of creamy oak spice and good balancing acidity.

(2025) Terry Chellapah makes this lovely Syrah from Frankland River, whole bunches fermented in French oak (60% new barrels) and aged for 14 months. There's a wonderfully rich and deep bramble and blueberry fruit, but it blends with smoky oak notes and a sizzle of bacon fat. The palate is rounded, sweet and ripe, fleshy black fruits are backed up by bittersweet cocoa and a flash of raspberry brightening the palate and adding a juicy freshness into the finish. Price and stockist quoted is for a previous vintage at time of review.

(2025) This is immediately a little rounder, fleshier and fruit-forward than the Laissez Faire bottling, not so much of the waxy character but loads of fat lime and necatarine fruit. Quite full-bodied really, there's a hint of residual sugar but of course there is acidity to match, again limey and vibrant,  with those succulent stone fruit flavours of the mid-palate all coming together in the finish.

(2025) There's a fine citrus and delicately salty note aromatically. On the palate it certainly lacks the complexity of the other two Rieslings tasted (at twice the price) but has fine clarity and the merest hint of sweetness balances the fruit very nicely.

(2025) In 2020 the recipe for this top Chardonnay from Leeuwin is 20% whole bunch, fermented in new Burgundian oak, the balance destemmed, and fermented in new Bordelais oak. It remained in barrel for 11 months. Lots of creamy almond and oatmeal on the nose over taut apple fruit, very nutty with a wispnof whisky barrel in the mix. The palate is pin sharp, a little bit of flint, but a cool minerality at the core of this. There's ripeness, some light apple pie character, but the freshness is winning.

(2025) A very fine Bordeaux-style blend of 76% Sauvignon Blanc, aged six months in mostly new oak, and 24% Semillon. Certified organic. The nose suggests cedar, herbs and lime, with a toasty, nutty underpinning. The palate is quite full, but it immediately shows structure and savoury intensity. It is firm, a bit of phenolic grip like fruit skins and gravel, but the limey citrus fruit does persist into a fresh, appetising finish.

(2025) Sourced from vineyards an average of 30 years old in Willyabrup, and made mostly from the Gin-Gin clone, this was fermented in French barriques and aged 12 months. This is a flinty, decisive style, layered with fragrant, smoky oak and buttery fig richness, but pin sharp with a lemon zip too. In the mouth it is textured and fine, rippling with creamy fruit and that flinty, river stone clarity of acidity.