Matthew Juke's 100 Best Australian Wines

Matthew Jukes

This is an even more layered and expressive wine than the awe-inspiring 2016 and it always amazes me when a wine doesn't just remind you of its class and integrity when you taste it, but it actually raises its own bar and redefines its potential. Of course Heytesbury is a great wine. Since the superb 2012 it has rocketed, but this 2017 is something different. The fruit is identifiable as 'Heytesbury-style' but it is the incredible oak delicacy, fascinating powdery texture on the finish and the ethereal lightness of touch throughout which makes this wine so enchanting. Heytesbury has not been a wine I have written the word 'finesse' about before. It is now.

95 points - Top 100 Wines of Australia 2019

James Suckling

#98 - Cool, stone aromas with subtle cooked apples and lemons. Cream and floral undertones. Full body. Layered and flavorful with so much intensity of fruit and cellar finesse. Yet, always subtle and tight. Full and fresh. Drink now. Screw cap.

95 points

The Real Review

"The wine presents as a distinctly savoury wine on the nose with its profound nuttiness and oatmeal nuances, accented by citrus zest. The palate is graceful and refined, yet powerful as well, with beautiful sweet-lemon flavours which are intense, focused and long. There is gentle savoury complexity, and the acidity is bright and integrated." Toni Paterson "Bright, light yellow hue, with a complex grapefruit and smoky oak bouquet, a subtle nougat background, and the palate an appealing balance between delicacy and refinement on one hand and power on the other. Persistent and promising to unfold more in the future. It's still just a baby." Huon Hooke

96 points

The Real Review - Bob Campbell

Tasted alongside the regular label, this wine has the volume turned up and is altogether a richer, weightier and more assertive chardonnay with obvious cellaring potential. A serious thoroughbred with mineral, hazelnut, citrus, apple, peach and brioche flavours, together with a subtle floral character. Very impressive now, more impressive later.

"One of the shining beacons of New World chardonnay"

WBM - Tyson Stelzer

A seamless, effortless poise of the utmost balance that sets Heytesbury apart as one of the shining beacons of New World chardonnay.

It’s beautiful.

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

Yes it’s flinty and complex but the fruit is just divine. This is top shelf. White peach city. The flesh of nashi pears, bran and woodsmoke characters, some funk, some flint, some cedarwood and nougat. A slight, slight trace of tinned two-fruits too, which of course ties in with the predominant fruit flavours but there’s a slight steel/can character as well. It works a treat. It’s beautiful.

95 points

Gourmet Traveller WINE

The bouquet is complex grapefruit and smoky notes, subtle nougat aromas and stuck flint, while the palate presents a terrific balance between delicacy and power, refinement and concentration. The length is prodigious. It promises to unfold more charms in the future.

97 points

James Halliday Wine Companion 2020

Consistently at the forefront of Australian chardonnay, attention to detail as important for the smallest detail as the largest. Texture is as important as flavour, although it can't always be possible to deconstruct the two. The elephant in this room is complexity, and the need to control it, for although deliberate, it may damage the very thing it was trying to create.

94 points

Joe Czerwinski, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

"The oak treatment in the 2017 Chardonnay is so subtle, it comes across as more of a lees-induced richness than wood. It adds another layer of generosity to the crisp citrus and pineapple fruit that dominates this wine's medium-bodied palate. Overall, this is plump and frankly delicious, with those citrus notes lingering elegantly on the long finish."

16.5+ points out of 20

Jancis Robinson - Article

Rather obvious reduction on the nose slightly occludes the fruit, which is pretty dry and uncompromising at the moment. It probably just needs time. Lots of texture has been built! But it’s all in the future. I'm sure, on track record, it will get there but for now, head for the 2017 Premier. Drink 2021 – 2027

Incredible length

The Wine Detective-Sarah Ahmed

It is compellingly contrapuntal, with terrific citrus backbone and twang, wed to savoury depth. All in all, wonderful palate presence.

95/100

Jeremy Oliver

Elegant and composed, this ageworthy chardonnay has a pithy bouquet of grapefruit, lemon and fresh vanilla oak backed by briny, chalky undertones and a hint of charcuterie meats. It’s long and stylish, with a gentle but fleshy core of vivacious fruit that moves easily along a fine, chalky texture towards a brisk and appropriately taut acidity, finishing with persistent notes of fruit and smoked meats.

95/100

Jeremy Oliver

Elegant and composed, this ageworthy chardonnay has a pithy bouquet of grapefruit, lemon and fresh vanilla oak backed by briny, chalky undertones and a hint of charcuterie meats. It’s long and stylish, with a gentle but fleshy core of vivacious fruit that moves easily along a fine, chalky texture towards a brisk and appropriately taut acidity, finishing with persistent notes of fruit and smoked meats.