92 points

Vinous

Pale gold. A highly expressive bouquet evokes fresh orange, pear, fig, white flowers and smoky lees, with a mineral nuance adding urgency. On the palate, potent orchard fruit and citrus zest flavors pick up a deeper smoky element with aeration. Nicely combines power and finesse and closes very long and taut, with lingering mineral and honeysuckle qualities.

95 points

JamesSuckling.com

Aromas of sliced green apple and slight reduction but then blows off into a gem. Full body, tight and fresh. Complex and exciting in the end. Decant before serving. Screw cap. Drink now.

92++ points

Indaily-Philip White

"This new inclusion in the range - everybody who's anybody must have at least three Chardonnays in their arsenal these days - is made after what the blurb calls the modern Margaret River style. So what does this mean? I think it's a bit like Penfolds Reserve Bin A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay in spirit: toward medium-bodied Burgundy in style and weight, with finesse rather than force. It smells of the coffee rock of the region, rain-wet. It has that flinty/carbide/cordite/gunpowder edge that many call 'minerality' or sometimes reduced - both terms which confuse me. Its oak is gingery and prickly, its acid like lemon pith. It looks a little brash and awkward in this its juvenile stage: if you cant wait a few years, I'd be decanting it. It has the sharps that could handle mild pork dishes, like well-roast belly cuts, a la The Elbow Room in McLaren Vale."

96 points

The Western Australian Wine Guide 2015

This is a mighty good chardonnay. It continues the recent work on this variety with the aim to create finer and more delicate wines that lose nothing in power and poise. This is certainly one of the best. There's a steely, tight thread of fine grained oak and beautifully-weighted fruit supported with a lancing acidity. A little wild and a little funky and very good.

Gourmet Traveller WINE - Peter Forrestal

"There's rarely anything newsworthy in the release of yet another Chardonnay, but an exception might be made when it marks the culmination of a decade's work by Margaret River's Vasse Felix and Virginia Willcock, Gourmet Traveller WINE's Winemaker of the Year in 2012... Primal and fruit-driven yet with some solid, flinty complexity and a pleasing leanness... remarkarble, delicious, modern Chardonnay."

Wish Magazine - The Australian

Made from selected parcels in estate vineyards, this is a classic Margaret River style with its youthful and powerful tropical fruit flavours well balanced by spicy French oak.

95 Points

Wine Business Magazine

...The wine is on another plane. There is poise and grace here, within a tightly coiled and beautifully refined style that showcases skillful craftsmanship.

Imbibe Magazine

Miles away from the sunshine in a glass style that used to characterise Aussie Chardonnay, this is a serious, well-made wine in a savoury style that is ideal for food-pairing, with flavours of roast nuts and a medicinal tang.

92 points

Wine Speed - Karen MacNeil

Rich earthiness in perfect counterpoint to a terrific sense of tension that comes from acidity. Wonderful balance and refinement plus a complex bouquet from just a bit of age. (13% abv) 92 points