This 2018 vintage is the big guy. It was the season where all the stars aligned for viticulturists and winemakers in Margaret River, with good yields, climatic conditions and quality. The 2018 Art Series Chardonnay today is entering its sixth year from harvest, and for me, this is when the Gingin clone drinking window starts to open. However, this wine was great from the first, and it is both ripe and powerful, tight and long. You get salted peach, wild amounts of exotic spice (Indian in the main, but a splay of Marrakesh marketplace as well), saffron and turmeric, galangal and white pepper. In the mouth, there is roasted fennel seeds and shaved fennel too. It's a ripping wine, kaleidoscopic and swirling—magic in its way. The thing about this wine, is that it has power and undulation in accord with restraint and spice. It's the acid I suppose, that gets me; it is so tightly coiled through the rich internal workings of the wine. Like a finely tuned watch spring in an automatic Swiss watch. Sealed under screw cap. This was tasted at the estate in January 2024 as part of the annual vertical of Art Series Chardonnay. The vintage span in 2024 is 1986 to 2021 (plus the 2023 barrel sample).

This impressive white is complex, supple and elegant, though not shy on intensity. Opens with creamy, satiny notes of apricot, pear, lemon curd and passion fruit puree, with touches of toasted hazelnut, salted caramel, jasmine and green tea. The way the details mingle with and complete one another makes this as complex as it is refreshing, with a fresh thread of acidity weaving in and out. Drink now through 2036. 800 cases imported.??–MW??Region: Australia / Western Australia / Margaret River Select to Add