Bright medium-light yellow colour; smoky charcuterie, struck flint and toasted hazelnuts to sniff. The wine is intense, focused and very long on the palate. Piercing lemon/citrus flavours, fresh and balanced acidity driving it long and promising a big future if cellared, although it’s a great drink right now. An outstanding chardonnay.

Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay Tasmania 2023, www.therealreview.com

This gets down to business in no uncertain terms. It shows citrus and pineapple characters as flashes but its heart is all stonefruit, yellow apple, flint and smoked cedarwood. The effect is powerful, the persona is elegant. This is a wine of long lines and texture like satin. There’s a brine-and-tonic-like twist to the aftertaste but then every time I lifted the glass I saw or appreciated something new; it has more twists than Oliver. Basically, it’s a gorgeous release.

Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay Tasmania 2023, www.winefront.com.au

The 2022 vintage will be very hard act follow, I tell myself, as I brace for disappointment.
And then it hits like a vampire smelling its prey, pupils dilate and I am utterly captivated.
Perfectly ripe lemons, peach sorbet and fresh linen billowing on the hills hoist. Whipped
meringue cream, honeysuckle and bee pollen. Oak? What oak, yes it is there, with
arches of cinnamon, fresh sawdust and hazelnut praline. But the fruit, oh the fruit reins
supreme! It tickles the corners of your palate just where it should. Provides ample natural
acidity and clean young almond milk creaminess on the finish. There is shale and river
stone and the under current of not quite fathomable things, all at work to make you beg
for another glass. With two wines that are so totally convincing, the magic of the
Tolpuddle vineyard is real. Drink with prawn Har Gow dumplings and die happy.

Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay Tasmania 2023, Shanteh Wale for www.winepilot.com