Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay

Producer. Producer. Producer. Despite the 2024 naysaying (at least for Chardonnay) on account of its warmth, this is unsurprisingly all class and one to jump on for the quality-to-price ratio. Nougat, chestnut and fine cedar mark a savoury beginning before an unfurling of white grapefruit, peach skin and dehydrated lime. Allusions of flint. It’s immediate and open, though with definition and detail. Notes of brown spice and salted lemon emerge with air. It all clicks nicely into place, making for a really striking perfume. The palate is textural and full, with the nutty savouriness and fine cedar notes sitting forward before a cut of pithy white grapefruit and tangy lemon hold sway and pull it linear. Classic Gin Gin clone acidity and phenolic grip put up a lovely long frame around the finish, which is drawn to good length. This is very good, and at its price point it can boast complexity, structure, power and detail."

"This is as good as you’d hope and better than you’d expect. It’s a very good wine. It has good fruit intensity, a rub of texture, sound-smoky length and strong all-around appeal. It tastes of grapefruit, lemongrass, peach and pear, with cedar and smoke as attractive whispers. All the way along the line, I like what I taste here."

“Given that the Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay is always considered one of our very best Chardonnays, each vintage, it should be no surprise that their Prelude Chardonnay is another seriously good wine. Inevitably, it will be looked at as a second wine by some, but it deserves better than that. In fact, there would be wineries lining up to have this as their pinnacle release. Fermentation was in French barriques with 35% of them new. The wine then spent a further ten months in maturation. Lemon/straw in colour, there are gorgeous aromas here, with cashews, white peaches, stonefruits, nectarines, woodsmoke, citrus and mandarins all prevalent. The wine has enjoyed excellent oak handling, is of medium to good length and offers a fine line of acidity. Fresh and bright, this has at least six to eight years of providing pleasure ahead of it.”