'Wow Tangy mixed citrus peel and complex white stonefruit smelling; subtle flintiness and icy cold quartz. Amazing the mouth too: intense, long, edgy and mouth-sucking. So complex and charged with energy that descriptors elude.' (2012 Vintage) - 97/100. - Australian Financial Review, 29 Aug 2014.

With winter rains, healthy and wholesome grapevines protruded out of the soil at the Jansz vineyard. Grapes were picked from a single block in the vineyard, the whole bunch pressed, and fermented and aged in French oak barriques with more than five years on lees. This extensive winemaking procedure resulted in the creation of an elegant Chardonnay wine displaying pale gold colours with an exceptional bead. The lifted bouquet gives out scents of truffles, oyster shells and preserved lemons coupled with underlying nuances of honey nougat and Amaretti biscuits. The complex and intense palate is an amalgam of brioche, roast almond nougat and crystallised lemon nuances that balance the chalky minerality and creamy texture of the wine to provide a refreshing and lengthy climax. The wine possesses an alcohol content of 12% and is a great pairing with whole baked snapper with ginger and citrus.

The Beechworth terroir has a distinctive fruit character of pear/peach fruit. The oak has minimal impact by using older French oak and mainly puncheons. The warm year has meant less citrus lift but has bran meal notes from the wild ferment and extended lees contact. The palate is quite rich with zesty acid line through to the finish. Drinking well now but will improve with further bottle age. Maybe leave the 2012 and 2013 for a couple more years and enjoy this in its place. Enjoy with Seafood to light meats.

Small-batch Chardonnay from Marlborough negociants Novum. Stonefruit, cream and mineral on the nose. Flintiness meets fruit on the palate, making for a distinctive medium-bodied wine. An appealingly long finish shows this to be a top tier Chardonnay. Novum use small parcels of fruit from specially selected sites on established Marlborough vineyards to craft the best wines and expressions of terroir possible. Their first vintage arrived in 2016. Novums primary focus is on Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The vineyards of Hautes-Côtes de Beaune (High Slopes of Beaune) may be 80% Pinot Noir but it is Chardonnay that occupies many of the best sites, like this one, Sous Eguisons (Under the cliff of Eguisons), bordering Saint-Aubin, facing south-east and protected from the cold northerly winds (and frosts) that can be hazardous at this relatively high altitude (430-450m). One hectare of roughly 10,000 vines are trained low and were planted between 2002 and 2005 in limestone-rich soil. Caroline Lestimé has enhanced the reputation of this fine producer since taking over from her famous father, Jean Noel Gagnard, in 1989. Jean Noel Gagnard handed his eponymous Domaine to his daughter Caroline Lestimé in 1989. She had studied business in Paris, before returning to the village to take over the reins of the family estate, and had to handle male chauvinism at its most rampant. Nonetheless, she has followed her own convictions, and enhanced (rather than diminished) the reputation of this fine producer. In the vineyard, she uses no fertilisers or herbicides, but has not taken hold of the biodynamic bible. - James Halliday

Shadowfax Chardonnay is blended from premium cool climate districts of southern Victoria. This Chardonnay crafted by Matt Harrop is elegant and complex with attractive varietal and barrel derived characters.