Chardonnay Season Part 4 – A new discover
Barry Weinman: 26th April 2025
It is very easy to be complacent when it comes to chardonnay when you live in Perth, given the quality of WA wines. So it is great to get a wake up call from time to time, to remind me that there is more to fine chardonnay than just Margaret River (or the Great Southern).
And so it was with the 2022 Fighting Gully Road Smith Vineyard Chardonnay. Here is a wine that was uniformly awarded gold medal points from all judges on the panel, throwing a cat amongst the pigeons in a line up of some top WA chardonnays as part of our regular blind panel tasting.
Reviewed
Fighting Gully Road – Smith Vineyard – Chardonnay – 2022. Wow. This is quite amazing. Stunning fruit, superb winemaking, magnificent presence and impact. Yet there is a degree of restraint and subtleness that reeks of quality. The persistence and length of flavours is extraordinary. Still very youthful and will evolve over the next 5 years. This is a very fine wine indeed and represents good value for a wine of this quality.
The fruit comes from the Smith Vineyard, which was planted in 1978, making it the oldest chardonnay vineyard in Beechworth. The wine was matured for 12 months in fine-grained Troncais MT oak (1/3 new). 13.5% alc – 96pts – $85.
Cullen – Kevin John – Chardonnay – 2024. This is very good, but quite different from the 2023. For Cullen, 2024 was the hottest, driest and earliest vintage on record. The result is a wine that is richer and more impactful. The generosity makes it excellent current drinking, as does the gently viscous palate. And there is commendable persistence and length of flavours. If you get the opportunity to try this next to the 2023, I would love to hear what you think. 13.5% alc – 95+pts – $180.
Brookland Valley – Estate – Chardonnay – 2022. BOOM! This wine explodes on the palate. Immensely concentrated and powerful, with great depth of flavours that build and evolve for some time. This wine is all about power rather than subtlety, and works well. The acidity is really well judged, leaving the palate fresh. If you like impactful wine, then this is worth seeking out. 94pts.