2023 Woodlawn Park Chardonnay

94 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

This is the family vineyard site, located right near the Tamar River itself. Planted in 2017 to four hectares. The wine sees wild ferment and maturation in French and Austrian oak. Quite a bit of power and depth here but requisite freshness counter. Lemon-lime curd, waxy wild honey notes, ginger tea, soft, red apple notes and a touch of just-ripe pineapple. An exuberant chardonnay though the creamy edges find a nice film of grip and coolness, the finish long and trailing off with nutmeg spice and a touch of butter-honey character. Plenty of charm and vibrancy, though chardonnay to sink one’s teeth into, a bit more.

93 POINTS

Tom Kline - Winepilot

This opens with a pronounced leesy character—salted pastry dough leading into notes of honeysuckle, cheesecloth, and nutmeg. It holds firmly to its savoury frame before fruit begins to emerge: Meyer lemon, green apple skin, and white grapefruit. The palate walks that fine line between texture and tension with ease. Lemon juice, grapefruit, and tangy green apple skin cut through a creamy core, while those lees-derived pastry dough notes linger in the mouth perfume. There’s a gentle chalky grip to the sides and a preserved lemon acidity that coils everything toward a back-palate of good length. The fruit component remains coiled and tensile for now, placing the lees work firmly at the forefront. This will unfurl beautifully with time in bottle, but what’s here already is classy, chiselled, and finely wrought.

93 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2023 Woodlawn Park Vineyard Chardonnay is waxy, floral and distinct. It leads with white peach, pineapple husk, crushed shells and brine. The palate is nutty and tight, with length and line to close. The estate-owned vines are young, planted in 2017 and farmed since then, on chromosome aeolian sands over deep tertiary sediments. 13% alcohol, sealed under Diam and wax.

93 POINTS

Dave Brookes - Halliday Wine Companion

Chardonnay from the Woodlawn Park vineyard in the Tamar Valley. Pale straw with nectarine, grapefruit and white peach fruits, clotted cream, oatmeal, yellow plum, lemon curd, grilled nuts, white flowers and stone. A little more fruit expression than the other two chardonnays in the range but still with that focus, tension and stony, savoury gaze as it trails off.