This is consistently one of the regio's best Chardonnays. Estate-grown at Bannockburn and fermented and matured in French oak barriques (15% new), the 2009 vintage is a fresh, racy, fruit driven style with citrusy, appley flavours, restrained oak influence and a slightly creamy texture.

The 2009 Chardonnay offers aromas of ripe apricots, cantaloupe and pineapple with underlying cedar, brioche and honey-nut notes. Full bodied and generously fruited in the mouth, there's a nice suggestion of creaminess to the texture with very lively acidity and a long toasty finish. Drinking now it should cellar to 2014+.

(17.5+/20) has a pale-edged, bright, straw-yellow colour and very fine, minerally nose with citrusy fruit and clear spicy oak aromas. A very fine-grained, tight and elegantly proportioned wine, this has fresh, crisp citrus fruit flavours alongside up-front oak. Aged 11 months in 15% new French oak barrels. Give it another 18 months to fatten and soften into a more generous outlook.