Thistledown Suilven Chardonnay 2024

96 POINTS

Marcus Ellis - Halliday Wine Companion

Back after a couple of years' hiatus, this is now bottled under screw cap. Fermented wild in seasoned oak, with a portion in ceramic egg. Refinement is king here, with classic chardonnay winemaking present, but quietly so; the fruit elegant, taut, but not lacking for intensity, suspended on a line of vigorous, ripe acidity and a chalky structural pithiness. White stone fruit, crisp golden apple and Lisbon lemon. Plus, a little spice with faint notes of ground ginger, clove and allspice. There’s an appealing savouriness to this, a confident quietude of making. It’s excellent, and it has the bones to age.

90 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

From a vineyard in Forreston. White fruited, almond, floral/jasmine, discreet spice. Medium-bodied, gently nutty, white fruit, ripe grapefruit, soft acidity, a bit of flinty texture with a finish of solid length. It’s maybe a bit dilute and washy, but does have some charm. Perhaps a sitting on the fence style? Nice, though maybe a little bland.

90 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2024 Suilven Chardonnay is from a single vineyard in the Adelaide Hills and fermented in a combination of French oak and concrete egg. The 2024 season was, by all accounts, a magnificent one, and so it is with great anticipation that I taste the wines from South Australia from this year. On the nose, the wine leads with pressed white flowers, custard powder, crushed nuts and sweet apple pie. The palate is creamy and very fine in flavor. It's an interesting wine, but if I'm honest, the reality is different than my expectations of it—creamier, quieter and smoother than I anticipated, almost plump but not audacious. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Decanter

Fresh citrus and apple with mealy detail. Crunchy pear and zesty citrus with crystallised ginger spice; herbaceous and lip-smacking on the finish. Judges: Alex Hunt MW, Roger Jones, Beth Pearce MW