A delightful cool climate Chardonnay, Oyster Bay had created a beautiful wine with the clean pure varietal character that typifies the best whites from Marlborough. Flavours of stone-fruit and citrus are perfectly balanced with creamy nutty oak. Crisp and a lengthy finish.

This wine is pale straw in colour and shows subtle grapefruit, mineral and flint characters on the nose. The palate has flavours of citrus and melon with savoury notes and a long dry finish.

Pears, stone fruit and citrus gives way to a creamy, nutty middle and fresh acidity to close.

A complex array of melon fig and cashew aromas is followed by a typically elegant and subtle palate with beautifully integrated oak. Petaluma had set a benchmark in Australian Chardonnay.

Sourced from dry-grown, hand tended vines in the north east of Victoria, this Beechworth Chardonnay from Savaterre will surely convince even the most hardened Chardonnay critic that modern Australian Chardonnay is of supreme world-class standard. Keppell Smith handcrafts a Chardonnay of utmost power and concentration that produces a length of flavour that borders on the immortal.

Dog Point from Marlborough in New Zealand have quickly established themselves as quality Marlborough producers with their range of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. This Chardonnay has lovely texture due to lees stirring and balanced oak influence. Hints of citrus still remain to produce a Chardonnay of versatility.

Chardonnay is at home in the Margaret River in Australia's west and this great value version from Cow Bombie shows lovely rich varietal flavours of peach and melon and textured mouth feel are enhanced by zesty citrus notes which linger on the finish.

Vasse Felix Chardonnay is a pure, elegant and vibrant style of Chardonnay, embracing the region's powerful fruit with complexity and restraint to express the environment, with the hallmarks of Vasse Felix's premier vineyards.

Main Divide is named after the local name for Southern Alps that divide New Zealand's south island in two. Their 2008 Chardonnay is made using traditional Burgundian methods and has resulted in a wine of great complexity. Aromas and flavours of zesty citrus, with palate covering peach and a hint of fresh toast.

A fine and quite flinty modern expression of Margaret River Chardonnay. Finer and leaner it might be in some ways, but the unmistakable power and persistence of the region still triumphs. Complex mealy grapefruit and roasted nut characters on the nose, and a deep and richly intense palate power through to the finish.