Briar Ridge Briar Hill Chardonnay 2025
$50, 12% alcohol, screwcap, Hunter Valley.
There’s a punchiness to the fruit here – which gives this wine a rich, satisfying feel – but it still manages to feel stylish and elegant throughout. It’s a modern Hunter Valley chardonnay in the best sense of the words. It tastes of grilled peaches and nectarines, pears, citrus and smoked cedar, and as stylish as it is it’s also juicy and delicious. 93 points.
Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He founded The Winefront, is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion (and former editor of Halliday magazine), and is the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He is 100% independent, and tastes between 5,000 and 10,000 wines each year, blind and in comparative brackets as often as is practicable.
Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.
