Wonderfully overlapping notes of lemon, grapefruit and lime zest very fresh, precise and fascinating, elegant but rich of later-summer flavours.

Sourced from dry-grown, hand tended vines in the north east of Victoria, this Beechworth Chardonnay from Savaterre will surely convince even the most hardened Chardonnay critic that modern Australian Chardonnay is of supreme world-class standard. Keppell Smith handcrafts a Chardonnay of utmost power and concentration that produces a length of flavour that borders on the immortal.

This cuvee offers a very beautiful balance between the different origins of our chardonnay. Cramant mostly of course (so structured and mineral), Chouilly in a large part (Mont Aigu for elegance) and a piece of Cuis (for the freshness and to sign Pierre Gimonnet).. The champagnes of Pierre Gimonnet & Fils are intricately assembled by masterful hands exclusively from enviably positioned and painstakingly tended old vines. Every cuvee sings its aspiration of 'precision, purity and minerality', each speaking articulately of its place in the northern Côte des Blancs through expressive, chalky minerality, without one molecule of detailout of place. With high-strung tension, crystalline structure and rapier-sharp precision, these are blanc de blancs champagnes charged with an energy that will sustain them long indeed. They represent some of the best-value apéritif champagnes of all. The Champagne Guide 2016-2017, Tyson Stelzer www.tysonstelzer.com

Kevin Cullen was a passionate believer in the quality of Margaret River as a wine region and particularly of its potential to become one of the great areas for both Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Here's his proof! [Biodynamic]