Decanter Cellar: 20 must-try Chardonnay

The first 10-year late-disgorged wine for Pirie – and it's a mighty one. An elegant nose displaying purity of fruit and surprising freshness, with notes of lemon curd, sweet pie spice and apple and cinnamon brioche rolls. Melted butter, slight flinty autolytic notes and a little crushed white shell thread through like lacework. The end result? A wine of restraint and poise, with a long line of silvery acidity rising through clouds of texture. A core of white nectarine crunch finishes with an almost sea foam-like finish. A batch of the best sparkling wine of 2011, left on lees and disgorged in 2022. A very special wine, full of freshness and lift, delicacy and elegance.

Balancing fresh citrus and stony minerality with a deeper, richer character, this Champagne has both poise and stature. Some oxidative, nutty characters play against an oily, waxy backdrop, with some herbal bitters, fresh tangerine and wildflower honey all adding to the charm. From a husband and wife team farming 4ha in the Côte des Bar.

This is showing all the pure citrus freshness of blanc de blancs Champagne. It's layered with notes of crusty bread and the suggestion of a dollop of cream, yet it remains focused and true. Zesty and chalky in the mouth, even with some green apple snap and chew, bringing good textural complexity and tension, and it's not weighed down by thick creamy characters or confected fruit. Chardonnay mostly from the Côte des Blancs and Vitryat, notably including Avize, Vertus, Mesnil-Sur-Oger and Montgueux, with 30% reserve wines and 7g/L of dosage. At the end of 2024 Canard-Duchêne launched its Iconic collection, a rebranding of the previous Charles VII collection, which includes this Blanc de Blancs, a Blanc de Noirs, a Rosé de Saignée and the Léonie Brut.

A complex, elegant Crémant combining purity of flavour, fine mousse, ripe fruit and distinct autolytic notes. There is plenty of fruit sweetness on the palate, balanced by crisp acidity and a long aftertaste. Since 1985, the Famille Vincent (of the Château-Fuissé group) have produced high-quality wines in the Mâconais and Beaujolais. Grapes are sourced from high-altitude vineyards in Beaujolais, the wine is aged 15 months on lees, with 6g/L dosage. On a par with a good quality Champagne.

Almonds, yellow apples and a touch of tahini on the nose, plus macadamia and stone fruit. Evolved, with intriguing biscuit and nut flavours, a fine mousse and balanced acidity. Fresh and complex.

A wine that is jaw-droppingly powerful and complex, the 2022 Montrachet has pronounced aromas of quince, apricot and ripe pear accented with notes of wood spice, fresh-cut flowers and a firm minerality. The dense, concentrated texture is impenetrable today, but there is enough acidity to bring the wine into dynamic balance. This wine is truly one for the ages – wait at least 20 years before you open it, but it should continue to deliver for decades, potentially for a century. 3,565 bottles produced in 2022.

<p>It's a gorgeous wine. Crowley has taken the oxidative, ‘Black Chardonnay ’approach to this old vine Wente clone, planted in 1993, from the Four Winds Vineyard, planted on its own roots. Crowley uses puncheon and barrique on this wine with 60-70% new oak on the Phoebe. It spends 18 to 20 months on heavy lees with just about no stirring. Brilliant and soaring lemon curd, rich, honeyed notes of peach flesh, tropical sweet fruits and honeyed white florals show such depth and complexity on the nose. The palate is just as sublime; mineral saline notes mingle with rich, sappy grilled pineapple, sweet peaches and a stunning array of green mangoes and sweet lemon cream. It's a dazzling wine worthy of myriad superlatives. Beautiful.</p>

This superb wine boasts plenty of pronounced, youthful and upfront fruit aromas, with hints of Granny Smith apple and passion fruit touched with spice, and a profound saline mineral underpinning. The texture is creamy and dense, with an almost brooding character. Isabelle Raveneau sees it as a combination of Blanchot and Valmur; for me, it is simply a triumph. Although nearly approachable now, a savvy wine lover will wait 10 years to open and consume it over the decades to come.

Autodidact winemaker and viticulturist Craig Wessels does things differently – and fastidiously – perhaps because he hasn’t had any formal training. From a small single block, planted in 1999, which is considered to be the oldest Chardonnay in the Hemel-en-Aarde. Specific parcels are whole-bunch picked over three weeks. Pressed in an old Vaslin press, the ‘black’ juice then goes through natural ferment in barrels of mixed sizes as well as amphora. Quickly becoming something of an icon wine, the 2022 is firing on all cylinders – sensational smoky oystershell reduction, lemon leaf, blossom and creamed white pear part to an elegant yet weighted palate, flush with fruit and the house’s signature savoury acidity.

The nose has incredible freshness with some of the sweet herbal aromas of the 2014 and a distinctive smoky mineral background. The palate is slimline but intense, crisp and long, with a sur-lie character on the finish which combines with notes of sweet yellow apples. A very cold winter was followed by a cold, rainy spring, and summer temperatures were often below the seasonal norms. Although the run up to the harvest was dry and sunny, this was a decidedly cool vintage, with lower sugar and higher acidity than average.

A cool, dry year in Margaret River gave bright, intense whites – and Cherubino’s 2023 Chardonnays come highly recommended. The cogency and intensity here are quite beautiful. There’s a piercing quality to the nutty, lemony flavours – it’s savoury, refined and built to last.

From a tiny east-facing parcel of limestone-clay soils at Pyramid Valley’s Waikari vineyard, this is a complex, savoury wine that's all about texture and minerality. There’s a bright lift of grapefruit, mandarin, oatmeal and flint allied to a dense palate with good mouthfeel, saline acidity and long, dry finish. Very focused and sophisticated.

Fermented and aged in concrete and without undergoing malolactic fermentation, this is a vibrant and precise expression of Chardonnay with a robust acid backbone and a intense, fleshy minerality that reflects the intense of the grapes it is produced from, planted at 1,400 metres altitude on carbonate-rich soils. Yellow orchard fruit, wild flowers and fleshy citrus mingle with wild fennel and wet stone on the palate, for a structured mouthfeel that never loses tension and focus. Long finish, with great vertical depth.

Richly aromatic with notes of lemon meringue, grapefruit, white peach, oatmeal, sizzled butter, hazelnuts and a pretty lift of white flowers. While flinty reduction is a key aspect of Dog Point’s house style (albeit more dialled back than in earlier years), it’s the silken, assured palate with its rich fruit, fine acidity, concentration and balance that seduces. Appellation Marlborough Wine certified.

The pale lemon-yellow hue belies the potent aromas of white peach, green apple, oyster shell and white blossoms packed into this delicious wine. The texture is creamy and deep, yet the vibrant acidity draws it to an impressively long finish. The grapes are from 0.65ha spread over several parcels on different soil types, bringing diversity and depth to the wine. Wait at least two years to open this delightful bottle and enjoy it over the next 10-20 years.

<p>A gorgeous Chardonnay from couple Tracy and Aaron Kendall's new project. The Folly of Man estate vineyard is six hectares of vines in the Eola-Amity Hills. The site was formerly known as the Crawford Beck Vineyard. It was planted in 1996. It is wonderfully rich on the nose, with sweet, honeyed florals, sweet stone fruits, and lemon curd. The palate is lush, deriving complexity from a delicious texture: rich citrus cream, signature Eola-Amity spice and a chalky sense of minerality.&nbsp;</p>

Delightful. Slightly restrained on the initial attack, but with time, lovely aromas of ripe apple, pear and apricot open on the palate. The texture is creamy and dense, yet there's impressive freshness for the vintage, drawing the wine to a lingering finish. The grapes are from two parcels in the upper portion of the climat, nearly all planted in the 1960s. The wines are ageing in one 12hl oak upright and large casks (20% new). Organic.

<p>Arrestingly concentrated aromas of passion fruit and grapefruit are accented with flinty mineral notes and hints of white flowers. It all flows through to the palate where the texture positively vibrates with tension, yet lingers gracefully on the finish. The secret is the location; the domaine has 1.65ha of vines aged 40-100 years old, planted at the top of the Roche de Vergisson at 360-390m elevation. Give this wine five years before opening and drink over the next two decades.</p>

A bright, sunny personality is underlined by bright golden colour and lively tropical notes atop a pithy citrus body. It’s an honest reflection of site – mostly clone P58 Chardonnay planted at 100m elevation along south- and east-facing slopes on grey clay loam – with the cool location providing lively acidity that ensures good intensity and drive.

Nico Grobler was previously chief winemaker at Eikendal before leaving in 2019 to focus on his own label. The Burgundy inspiration is clear in this elegant Chardonnay sourced from 15-year-old vines in some of the highest vineyards in cool Elgin. Rich, complex and layered with a thrilling streak of linear acidity that goes on and on; the finish is mineral and pure, while a hint of malo adds texture. Will certainly continue to develop over time. Only 3,600 bottles produced.