Eight at the Gate Chardonnay 2023
$22, 12.9%, screwcap, Wrattonbully
This is one of those bell-clear wines that just gets the job done with a minimum of fuss. Sunny pear and citrus flavours come infused with vanilla, banana, popcorn and tropical fruit. It’s racy and it’s satisfying at once. It’s not the most complex wine in the tool shed but it doesn’t need to be; it drinks well and that’s all that matters. 90 points.
This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of both The Winefront site (founded in 2002, and the home of Australia’s best Australian wine reviews) and Mattinson Photography.
Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer since 1987. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award.
Mattinson, who is 100% independent, puts a score out of 100 on every wine that he reviews. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.
