Winery notes (2024 Vintage)
"Citrus blossom, elderflower and wet stones set the scene for this subtle yet beguiling Chardonnay. Comfortable, at ease with itself, not a single component vying for attention; just the Felton Road style at the fore. Deeply fruited with hazelnut notes through the mid, combined with characteristic fresh acidity, leads to a harmonious and sustained finish. A seamless Bannockburn blend from our Calvert, Cornish Point and The Elms vineyards.
Various clones of Chardonnay (Mendoza, B95, 548) were carefully hand harvested from Cornish Point, Calvert and The Elms vineyards. The grapes were whole bunch pressed with the juice flowing to barrel by gravity after overnight settling. Fermentation in French oak (mostly well-seasoned barrels with just 5% new) with indigenous yeasts has produced a wine with considerable complexity. A long and complete indigenous malolactic fermentation with only periodic stirring of the lees (Batonnage), combined with 11 months on full lees; has softened the acid for a rich and complex mouthfeel. In accordance with our non-interventionalist approach to winemaking, this wine was not fined or filtered after spending 13 months total in barrel."
Reviews for the 2023 vintage below…
5 Stars & 95/100 Stephen Wong MW, The Real Review, April 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"Subtle notes of vanilla rice pudding and flint give way to floral and sweet herb aromas. The palate, initially tight and firm, slowly opens up to reprise the bouquet along with layers of white fruit, chalk and fine-boned pithy phenolics which all lie within a sleek, polished structure. Elegant, detailed and compact, with mid-weight flavours tucked neatly into a delicately crisp package. It will develop nicely in the mid to long term."
Rated Outstanding & 95/100 Cameron Douglas MS, November 2024 (2023 Vintage)
"There’s no mistaking the frame and fruit core scents of this wine with layers of nut and stone, ripe stone fruits, grapefruit and wild flowers. Complex and distinctive. Delicious on the palate with flavours of stone fruit, citrus and a mix of fruit and wood spices held in place with a backbone of acidity and fine tannins with a mineral statement of stone and gentle saline quality. Still taut and dry with some development as the wine opens out in glass. A wine that should not been opened too soon with best drinking from late 2025 through 2030+."
90/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, December 2024 (2023 Vintage)
"The 2023 Bannockburn Chardonnay is lean and tremendously tightly coiled at this stage, with notes of crushed and salted nuts, white peach, lemon, green apple and lemongrass. In the mouth, the acidity is a real factor in the drinking experience: it defines the finish and contributes to the overall leanness of the wine. It's crunchier than expected, but at 14% alcohol, it's certainly not underripe. Interesting angles, all of them."