2016 Tolpuddle Chardonnay

All things were in place in the 2016 vintage, which has led to the 2016 Chardonnay being possessed of crystalline acidity, powerful, almost enveloping stone fruit and structured by fine almond meal phenolics. This is plush and driven all at once, showing that pleasure and direction can exist in the same mouthful. Incredibly focused and poised, I could drink this all day. If you have some of this in your cellar, bravo! Open a bottle tonight. It's excellent and in such a great place.

Big crop. Bunch and berry size were weirdly big. Still tight and tense and ungiving. Still embryonic but with some intrigue perhaps buried down there. Promising and persistent. Not quite the excitement of the 2015. Yet. (JR)

Full, sleek body with strong smoky character and ripe apple and mixed citrus aromas with a long clove and cinnamon spice on the length. Captures the essence of Aussie Chardonnay thanks to the generous ripeness, but wraps it in a modern, aerodynamic shell. (RH)