A lovely approachable Chardonnay from one of the most famous wineries in Australia. White peach and creamy oak notes are followed by soft rich stone fruit characters on the palate. Great value!

The Stockhausen Chardonnay was created by Briar Ridge in a style paying homage to the pioneers of the Hunter Valley around 40 years ago. It is rich and creamy with ripe peach and tropical notes.

The intention with this wine is to deliver a modern style of Hunter Semillon which offers outstanding early drinking appeal in combination with an ability to age over the short to medium term. The frame is still fine, but the flavours are more generous. Try with Sydney Rock Oysters!

In the glass: Fine straw with a faint hint of green.On the nose: A super-ripe mix of nectarine, melon and fig with fine oak spice. On the palate: A very smartly made expression of Chardonnay thats super-ripe, fresh and crisp throughout with velvety soft texture and deluxe oak harmony.

The grapes for this wine come from the Belford vineyard owned by the Elliott family, situated 15km north/north-west of the Tyrrells winery. The grapes were handpicked then lightly crushed before a relatively cool fermentation in stainless steel. After a short period on gross lees, the wine was racked and left to mature in stainless steel until bottling. The last of the semillon picked, this wine has a fuller palate commonly associated with the Belford vineyard, with great fruit intensity and a slightly higher acid intensity than normal years due to the cooler growing conditions.

'We are tasting the Tyrrell's 2006 Vat 1 semillon, a Hunter Valley wine which, at sevenyears old, is still a juvenile, easily capable of another decade of good drinking. Its longevity is at the very heart of what makes it so astounding. To think of it as a one-year-old is a different story: gangly, acid, water and neutral flavour, not astounding. Vat 1 also shows us you don't have to pay big dollars for greatness.' - Canberra Times, Jeni Port, 10 Apr 2013. Extract from 'What makes a great wine?'

From the Hunter Valley region NSW this wine has the distinctive fresh tropical fruit flavours of the Verdelho grape. With flavours of ripe melon and fig it is a wine worthy of any long afternoon lounging around. 'ALONG with the focus on fresh-faced chardonnays there is this variety, which is increasingly picked and crafted into a zingy style, more than richer, flabbier, duller versions. This bargain highlights such contemporary success: a dash of lime over custard apple and a light creaminess to mirror the fruit, spicy noted with a fruit sweetness sure to rock with chilli salted seafood.' - Daily Telegraph, Tony Love.

The freshness of this wine demonstrates why Hunter semillon is possibly the most under-rated wine style in the world. The aromas centre around lemon, lime and fresh hay, and the palate is decidedly linear, based on a spine of acidity. This exceptional wine, at six years of age, is still at least five away from its optimum drinking window. 'Little or no colour change; the bouquet is distinctly aromatic, but still focused on primary fruit, not toast or honey; the palate is electrifying, drawing saliva from the mouth with its mix of unsweetened lemon juice/lemon zest and life-giving acidity, the DNA of great Semillon.10.9% alcohol.' (2009 Vintage) - 97 points. - James Halliday February 2016.

Lifted nose of citrus and nectarine with slight hints of hazelnut. Classic nectarine & citrus carry onto the palate with bright fruit intensity balanced by natural acidity and length. Delicate hints of lifted hazelnut notes are delivered by 9 months in puncheons & barriques; this is a fine & elegantly structured Chardonnay.

Vat 47 from the Hunter Valley has a silky bouquet of melon stone fruit and creamy oak that is followed by a palate of extraordinary balance and length. An absolute classic and will only get better with some medium term ageing.