The team at Heggies (Hill-Smith Family Vineyards) have the recipe right. Similar winemaking as the previous vintages: Fermented and matured for 11 months in French oak barriques (40% new, 24% one year old and the rest older). Winemaker is Marc Van Halderen. The team have rolled onto the just released 2022, but there’ll be plenty of this about.

Heggies Vineyard, Estate, Chardonnay, Eden Valley, 2021

Pale lemon colour with a green highlight. Orange rind and grapefruit citrus through nougat, white stone fruit slices, creamy oak, flint, ginger, baked biscuit and roast hazelnuts. Soft and approachable creamy oak and stone fruit palate, pinned sharply with bright acidity and flecked with flint through a long tail. A little box ticking but there’s no doubting the class.

RRP: $35
Alc: 13%
Rating: 92/100

Wine sample courtesy of Heggies Vineyard