Neudorf Home Block Moutere Chardonnay 2024, Nelson, NZD $95

A true New Zealand icon, this organic old-vine masterpiece grown by Stef Brockley and made by Todd Stevens comes from the original block by the winery. It is living testament to the vision of Judy and the late Tim Finn who believed from the start that the region’s clay would be instrumental to making great chardonnay. Everything has come together perfectly this year to create sheer sophisticated elegance.

A restrained and very young wine which currently shows cinnamon and spicy oak hiding reluctant notes of just-ripe stone-fruit, zesty citrus and crisp apple. No more than medium-bodied but very concentrated yet backward with evident, latent power tightly wound within the coils of grainy, stony phenolics and intense, saline acidity. The finish is very long, amplified by the chewy texture and stony intensity. Undeniable quality and fine-tuned finesse with a long life ahead.

Great wine which will develop slowly in bottle into a grand, elegantly complex chardonnay if cellared carefully. (Screwcap)

Score: 97 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Drink: 2026 to 2040

Food: grilled crayfish with a light butter sauce

Stockists: Neudorf Vineyards

Ranked: #1 of 54 2024 Chardonnay from New Zealand

Awarded: Top Rank

Wine Classification: 3 Merits

Utzinger Black Label Chardonnay 2024, Tasmania, AUD $60

Matthias Utzinger is a Swiss winemaker who is one of the most recent and most exciting new additions to the Tasmanian wine landscape. He married a local Tasmanian girl and set up shop on the west bank of the Tamar River in 2018. The Utzinger wines have made an immediate and profound impact.

Light, bright straw-yellow colour; smoky reductive aromas that clear quickly, rich and powerful fruit with sylish oak and matchstick characters combining in a complex bouquet. A full-bodied, intense palate with lovely fruit-sweetness, which is kept lively by bright lemony acidity, the finish cleansed with the help of a pronounced phenolic grip. Great drive and precision. A superb wine and will be even better with food. (Screwcap)

Score: 96 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.7%

Drink: now to 2039

Food: crayfish tartlets with yuzu

Stockists: Prince Wine Store, South Melbourne and online; WineSquare online (AU)

Ranked: #3 of 22 2024 Chardonnay from Tasmania

Awarded: Top Rank

Cloudy Bay Te Koko 2023, Marlborough, NZD $90

A stand-out wine and the top-scorer from Jane Skilton MW in the Appellation Marlborough Wine tasting. Te Koko is always released later than the estate sauvignon blanc so 2023 is the current release. The fruit comes from their older vines on the Wairau Valley floor and is wild-ferments entirely in oak barrels and cuves (7% new oak) over five months before being transferred to age for another 11 months in a mixture of barriques, cuves and concrete.

Jane’s tasting note:

This is an accomplished, confident style of sauvignon blanc. The aromas are complex with some very subtle flint and gunsmoke sitting alongside restrained cinnamon-spiced oak. There is masses of succulent fruit on the palate, and although the texture is at once creamy and silky, thanks to sauvignon’s hallmark breezy acidity, there is a vibrancy and drive. Although it could be drunk now, it would be better with time. (Screwcap)

Score: 96 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Drink: now to 2030

Food: crispy pork belly with miso sauce

Stockists: The Good Wine Co. online; Fine Wine Delivery Co., Auckland and online (AU); Kent Street Cellars, Sydney and online – NSW; Nick’s Wine Merchants online (AU)

Ranked: #1 of 172 2023 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough

Awarded: Top Rank

Wine Classification: 2 Merits

Cullen Grace Madeline Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2024, Margaret River, AUD $50

This is a very complex young wine, savoury, ripe and not especially varietal—it’s more about good wine character than varietal expression. The sauvignon character, often pungent in this region, has been tamed.

Intense nutty and spicy aromas, creamy lees, cashew-nut and hints of herbs, its complexities arising from barrel and lees work as much as fruit. A powerful, concentrated wine with a generous oak component, which will very likely develop greater complexity and textural interest as it ages. (Screwcap)

Score: 95 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13%

Drink: now to 2036

Food: snapper and scallop pie

Stockists: Cullen Wines; Just Wines online; Liberty Liquors, Claremont and online – WA; Reserve Cellar, South Brisbane and online – QLD (AU)

Ranked: #1 of 16 2024 Sauvignon Blanc blends from Margaret River

Awarded: Top Rank

Two Rivers Saint Maur Southern Valleys Sauvignon Blanc 2022, Marlborough, NZD $40-46

From the 21-year-old vines in the Saint Maur Vineyard, loam over classic Southern Valleys clay gravels, this is a low-intervention style which was wild-fermented in a mixture of clay amphorae and concrete egg before sitting on lees for up to 18 months before bottling. Texturally fascinating and clearly capable of further development if kept.

An ageworthy sauvignon blanc which is only just unfolding at three years old. There is a kaleidoscopic expression of baked apple, almond cream, dense dry minerality, pear compote and roasted tea leaves. A fascinatingly lively wine which is also very polished and smooth despite clearly having notable high acidity. Approachable now but it will continue to gain weight and complexity in bottle in the mid-term. (Diam)

Score: 95 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Ageing: now to 2030

Food: olive and anchovy salad

Stockists: Two Rivers of Marlborough Wines; selected Liquorland outlets (NZ)

Ranked: #13 of 169 2022 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough

Awarded: Top Rank

Decades Coal River Valley Chardonnay 2024, Tasmania, AUD $80

Steve Flamsteed is simply one of Australia’s finest winemakers. Formerly chief winemaker at Giant Steps and now a roving consultant in big demand, he has released the first wines of his new Tasmanian venture with his mate over the decades, Brad Rogers.

Bright medium-light yellow colour with a malt, nougat and almond-paste bouquet, the palate rich and deep with a superb array of flavours, lemon, grapefruit, various nuts and some subtle smoky flinty notes. The palate has high energy and great intensity, line and length, the texture seamless and the wine has gravitas. A stunning chardonnay. (Screwcap)

Score: 97 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13%

Drink: now to 2036

Food: scampi, oven roasted with a drop of vanilla essence

Stockists: Decades Wines

Ranked: #1 of 19 2024 Chardonnay from Tasmania

Awarded: Top Rank

Neudorf Home Block Moutere Pinot Noir 2023, Nelson, NZD $75

The organic, dry-farmed home block was established in 1978, though some of the pinot noir clones like 667 and 777 were planted significantly later than that. The pinot noir style here has also evolved over the years, especially well-suited to years like 2023 which needed a lighter hand and less new oak. This is perfumed and elegant, a refined example of the variety.

A cool, relaxed nose with detailed blue fruit and floral nuances. Already surprisingly expressive and accessible, the palate unfolds in layers of earthy, spicy and woody complexity before freshening back up with blueberry and black cherry on the long, lively finish. A distinctly charming wine with effortless concentration, elegance and poise which holds attention with ease.

Although not profound or impressively powerful, it has everything in just the right amounts to allow for a graceful evolution in the cellar—so well balanced, in fact, that it will bring pleasure at every stage of its life. (Screwcap)

Score: 95 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Drink: now to 2038

Food: hot smoked salmon with pomegranate drizzle on rye bread

Stockists: Neudorf Vineyard

Ranked: #8 of 153 2023 Pinot Noir from New Zealand

Awarded: Top Rank

Wine Classification: 2 Merits

Holm Oak The Wizard Chardonnay 2024, Tasmania, AUD $65

2024 at Holm Oak was a warm, early vintage. This is their flagship chardonnay, wild fermented and aged in 50% new oak and 50% of it underwent malolactic conversion.

Bright, light yellow colour with an intense aroma of lemon acid drops, a whiff of toasty cashew and pencil-wood overlying it. The palate is delicate, refined and tense, with bright, lively flavour, the fruit doing most of the talking, the balance and texture seamless. Good concentration of fruit. Lovely wine indeed, with more to show us if given more time. (Screwcap)

Score: 95 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 12.5%

Drink: 2026 to 2037

Food: Tasmanian crayfish, halved and barbecued with butter, garlic and a slurp of the wine

Stockists: Holm Oak Wines; WineSeek online

Ranked: #4 of 19 2024 Chardonnay from Tasmania

Awarded: Top Rank

Te Kairanga John Martin Pinot Noir 2024, Martinborough, NZD $43

A selection of the best parcels from the Todd, McLeod and Home vineyards, 2024 is the result of smaller crop with a bit of January heat followed by a long, dry season thereafter. The clonal mix included Abel this year. Everything is hand-picked, hand-sorted and fully destemmed. The extraction was via hand plunging and fermentation was by native yeasts. The wine aged for 10 months in oak, 21% of which was new.

Lovely violets here alongside purple fruit, boysenberry and raspberry. Vibrant and elegant, very balanced and with sleek submerged tannins. The structure creates excellent flow, allowing the fruit to unfold long and late on the palate. Excellent acidity followed by a gentle grip right on the end, resulting in an elegant mid-weight pinot noir with presence.

Very primary currently, it needs time to gain complexity before revealing its full potential . (Screwcap)

Score: 94 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Drink: 2026 to 2034

Food: lamb rack with a herb crust

Stockists: Foley Wine Club (Te Kairanga Wines), Martinborough Wine Merchants and online; Moore Wilsons, Wellington and online; Fine Wine Delivery Co. online (NZ)

Ranked: #3 of 15 2024 Pinot Noir from Martinborough

Awarded: Top Rank

Wine Classification: 2 Merits

Bass Phillip Depuis 23 Pinot Noir 2023, Gippsland, AUD $495-$550

This is a new wine from Bass Phillip, an exploration of 100% whole-bunch fermentation. It possesses the depth of flavour and power that have made Bass Phillip an iconic pinot producer, but moving in a different style direction.

Deep-ish colour with a tinge of purple in the rim, the bouquet quite vegetal/stemmy, with floral, minty nuances, reflecting the substantial proportion of whole bunches in the ferment. An attractive perfume, albeit on the herbal side of the ledger. The wine is full bodied and loaded with drying tannins that coat the entire lining of the mouth. A high-impact wine of formidable structure and concentration. It will be fascinating to see how it develops with some age. (Cork)

Score: 96 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Drink: 2027 to 2035

Food: barbecue roasted duck

Stockists: Bass Phillip Wines (wine club members); Different Drop and The Envied Cellar online; Lamonts, Cottesloe and online – WA (AU)

Ranked: #23 of 216 2023 Pinot Noir from Victoria

Awarded: Top Rank