Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay 2024

Tolpuddle takes its evocative name from the Tolpuddle Martyrs — English agricultural labourers transported to Tasmania in 1834 for the crime of forming the country's first trade union. The 20-hectare, north-east-facing vineyard was planted in 1988 solely to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, in the Coal River Valley, a site that sits in a distinct rain shadow creating dry but cold growing conditions. Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith MW of Shaw + Smith acquired the property in 2011 and have invested heavily ever since, aiming — by their own ambition — to see it recognised as one of Australia's truly great single-vineyard sites. Jasper Morris MW has described the climate here as "cooler than Burgundy but warmer than Champagne," a telling comparison for a wine consistently likened to the great white Burgundies in both style and seriousness.

The result has become one of the most celebrated Chardonnays in the country: lemon peel, grapefruit, and white jasmine lead on the nose, deepening into struck match, crushed stone, clotted cream, and cashew-like oak in riper vintages, with James Suckling repeatedly scoring recent releases 97-98 points and calling it "truly excellent... you could easily be in one of the great Climats of Burgundy." The palate carries real tension — fine and precise, with firm, persistent acidity and a crystalline, textural intensity that balances lightness against real depth.