CHARDONNAY
95 Charlotte Dalton 2021 Grace Chardonnay (Adelaide Hills). From an exciting, artisanal Adelaide Hills producer, this elegant, gold-hued Chardy offers a multitude of intriguing aromas from very first sniff: honey, lemon peel, baker’s yeast, green tea and butter. The mouthfeel is glycerin-like, with a supportive frame of oak, a citrus freshness, and a long, mouthwatering, lemon curd-on-toast finish. A versatile wine for food pairing, it also has the potential to age gracefully until around 2030. Wine Dogs Imports LLC. Editors’ Choice. —C.P.
abv: 12.5% Price: $35
94 Giant Steps 2020 Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay (Yarra Valley). This single vineyard beauty, from a restrained and acid-driven Chardonnay vintage in the Yarra Valley, leads with reductive flint and nut characters. They’re woven in with more delicate aromas like stone fruit, waxy lemon, white spice, orchard blossoms and wet stones. Toasty oak is there too, but it’s well tucked. The mouthfeel is beautifully balanced, with prickly, citrusy acidity and supportive oak. Precise yet still characterful, this is an excellent, food friendly example of modern Aussie Chard. Drink now–2032. Jackson Family Wines. —C.P.
abv: 13% Price: $45
This is a distinctive wine from a distinctive place, deep in Western Australia’s remote Great Southern region. It’s a flinty, mineral, linear (borderline austere) style with lithe peach and melon fruit, toasted sesame seed, white spice, stone and seashell. The oak is there too but it’s solidly in a supporting role. Laser-like acidity slices through a gently creamy texture in the mouth, that stony, salty minerality flowing through to the
