Patrick Sullivan 2025 Chardonnays

The stars are aligned, as this is the finest Ada River to date. Pristine yet powerful. Full of flavour yet everything corralled by fine acidity. Excellent citrus-based fruit flavours, woodsy spices, ginger flower and just a smidge of creamy lees. There's such length to this. There's definition, complexity, layers of texture as the palate builds to a crescendo, allowing everything that is so great about this wine to fall into place. (97+) JANE FAULKNER, winecompanion.com.au

Superb wine. Texture, finesse, balance, oh and a nod to Jura in its manzanilla tang. Succulent and long. Sea spray, green apple, chamomile tea, preserved lime, alpine herbs, salted peanuts, lemon on nectarine - a feast for the senses! All this in a compact, textural, grippy frame and huge extension of flavour. Deliciousness, and then some. Very cool, cold and cool-cool. This is superb chardonnay, distinct for its styling and somewhat other-worldy for Australian chardonnay generally, in the best sense. All about it. (96) MIKE BENNIE, thewinefront.com.au

Medium-full yellow, a precocious colour for ts youth. Malt, creamed hazelnuts, nougat, caramel and almond aromas, a hint of dried apricot, the palate rich and full-bodied, powerful and big flavoured, with rounded structure and a firm but slightly astringent finish. Very good but more time recommended. HUON HOOKE, the realreview.com.au

The suite of '25s from Mr Chardonnay is something else: complex, detailed, rich yet refined and delicious. While there's a mid-gold hue to this, it's bright and super fresh. Expect a range of flavours - from yellow peach and citrus to grilled nuts and spice - with a juicy fruit fleshiness across the fuller-bodied palate. Luscious lees with flavours of ginger cream and sweet, cedary oak infuse the palate, with acidity kicking in to keep this in line. Very tasty. (97) JANE FAULKNER, winecompanion.com.au

This has plenty of flavour and texture, loaded with scent, stacked with character. Green apple, brown skin pear, cumquat, wild honeycomb, cinnamon toast, soft lime notes. Exceptional length and persistence built around cinnamon powder tannin and powdery grip - a delight. A touch of vanilla wafer oak here lending character. Bolder style with vibrancy and freshness on its side. Actually, delicious and compelling. (95) MIKE BENNIE, thewinefront.com.au

Medium-deep yellow colour, deep for its age, the bouquet full of forward developed vanilla, malt, toasted bread and roasted hazelnuts, while the palate is full bodied and firmly structured with a touch of astringency supplied by lively acidity and substantial tannins leaving a trace of bitterness that would diminish with time or food. This is a wine of formidable intensity and structure, built to age and to partner food. (95) HUON HOOKE, the realreview.com.au

A new addition from a site several leading producers access, and now Patrick Sullivan. It makes sense. It's a mid-gold hue and bright, smelling of a pastry shop in the early morning, all croissants and cinnamon rolls, oatmeal and ultimately a savoury drink. The palate unfurls, flavours build, yet there's an intensity, a tightness to this. Like its other Yarra Valley sibling, Woori Yallock, this also needs more time to settle. JANE FAULKNER winecompanion.com.au

Salted pastry dough and almond meal, green mango, white peach and pear, a little mint. It's a fleshy wine, quite nutty with a cinnamon oatmeal character, a juicy and ripe cut to crisp pear and lime acidity, a grainy grip to it, a distinct flavour of Biscoff biscuits lends richness, and the finish is nutty and offers good length. It's a bold and unctuous expression of Yarra Chardonnay, different, quite savoury, yet interesting and quietly compelling. GARY WALSH, thewinefront.com.au

Medium yellow with a brightness, and fresh cashew nut, bread crust and malt aromas, undercurrents of dried fruits, and a trace of smoked charcuterie. The palate is intense and taut, with a lightness that suggests it will reward more time, while the finish is medium-long and linear. Savoury more than fruity, and will repay a bit of patience. HUON HOOKE, the realreview.com.au

While there's no shortage of pristine acidity encasing this, it's a seemingly richer, riper style in terms of flavour, with white peach, clotted cream with buttered toast, oak spices and preserved limes. A wine of many layers and needs more time to reveal them. JANE FAULKNER winecompanion.com.au

This is so tight that it feels reserved, and the grip of the finish messes with the momentum a touch too. And yet I still think that it's excellent, and that it will age very nicely. It tastes of bran, custard apples, flint, grilled peach and biscuits, and after-taste-wise there are tonic water notes as well. It has an underlying power. It smells beautiful, and it will build flesh as it ages. I'm on board. CAMPBELL MATTINSON, thewinefront.com.au

Medium yellow colour; buttery croissant and gently toasty aromas, some dried fruit and subtle smoky traces also, the palate incisive and tense with a cut of acidity and phenolics that leaves a firm grip that adds length and a clean crisp finish. A leaner, racier wine than the Gippsland chardonnays and different in shape, needing more time. HUON HOOKE, the realreview.com.au