Apsley Gorge Vineyard Chardonnay 2022

Tucked into the Apsley Valley on Tasmania's rugged East Coast, a few kilometres inland from Bicheno, this is one of the most improbable and celebrated small vineyards in Australian wine. Brian Franklin — a former abalone diver and lobster fisherman — planted just one hectare of Chardonnay here in the late 1980s, and for over two decades has spent every vintage travelling to Burgundy to work alongside Philippe Charlopin in Gevrey-Chambertin (himself mentored by the legendary Henri Jayer), bringing that Burgundian sensibility home to a genuinely singular Tasmanian site. The vineyard sits right at the entrance to Apsley Gorge, where cooling afternoon breezes push harvest later than almost anywhere else on the island — typically the first week of May — allowing for a long, slow ripening that few other Australian Chardonnay sites can match. Yields are kept low, vines are hand-pruned and hand-picked with no irrigation, and the wine is fermented on native yeasts with oak kept deliberately restrained, letting the fruit and site do the talking. Total production most years is tiny — often little more than a hundred dozen bottles.

The result is Chardonnay of real precision and depth: white peach, citrus blossom, and grilled hazelnut on the nose, framed by a flinty, struck minerality, opening onto a palate of concentrated stone fruit and grapefruit zest layered with creamy oak, spice, and a saline edge. The finish is long, taut, and elegant, driven by vibrant natural acidity that keeps the whole wine feeling energetic rather than heavy