Is this Australia's best Chardonnay? If not then it shares the rarified air reserved for only the finest examples. Rich yet restrained, with mineral notes, cashew and almond meal, amazing fruit complexity and wonderful length...why not try the benchmark?

The home of truly elegant, yet powerful Chardonnay is without question, Chassagne-Montrachet. When you marry the unique terroir of this ancient site and the winemaking expertise of Louis Latour domaine, the result is the rich and engaging white wine. Complex flavours of peach and nectarine flow across the palate which finishes with a minerality the envy of most Chardonnay producers. Wonderfully attractive when young - buoyant and lively - yet will age for more than a decade to reveal toasty, textured buttered notes.

Kevin Cullen was a passionate believer in the quality of Margaret River as a wine region and particularly of its potential to become one of the great areas for both Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Here's his proof! [Biodynamic]

This wonderfully elegant Shiraz shows intense, pristine, blackberry fruit and ripe, silky tannins. It almost has a Pinot Noir elegance to it and, luckily, the quality of future vintages will only be getting better too as Voyager's new clones come on line.

Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is vibrant and robust with great balance from the bouquet of ripe forest fruits and violet on the nose; A refined structure of tannins, oak use and the acidity on the palate; All are great indications of a wine that would benefit from careful bottle maturation for many years to come.

This Katherines Paddock Chardonnay combines the richness, drive and classicism of one clone with the fine-boned flinty structure and chalky notes of the other. It is stylish with the modern expression of Australian style Chardonnay: tense, taut and sulphidic. It reclaims the middle ground where body, flavour and palate weight co-exist with structure, texture and restrained acidity. This single-vineyard Chardonnay has well integrated natural acidity with rich varietal expression.

One of the early pioneers of the Margaret River region, Woodlands' vineyards date back to 1973. As curator of these historic vineyards, Stuart & Andrew Watson have firmly re-established Woodlands into the top echolon of Margaret River producers. Sourced from an the outstanding 2008 vintage, the Shelley Anne Cabernet Sauvignon shows cassis, mulberry and blackcurrant with that typical bay leaf and cedar undertones. A wine that will live for well over a decade.

Margaret River is a world renowned Chardonnay producing region and Pierro can rightfully stake a claim as to why. Incredibly complex, it is a tangle of fine-boned acid, lees complexity, pristine fruit and the most detailed use of good quality oak. Extremely enjoyable now, but will benefit from short to medium term cellaring.

Giant Steps plays it's part in the rapid accension of Australian Chardonnay back to the position it once held here. That being of the king of white varieties. This is a very stylish numbe from Phil Sexton and his team. Stonefruit, melon and butterscotch characters are supported by vanillin oak and the palate is long and textured with a clean crisp finish.

The flagship white wine from Hardy's, the Eileen Hardy has become one of Australia's benchmark Chardonnays. Complex, elegant and very much cool climate in style it drinks superbly now and will only improve.