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.
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 the highly respected The Winefront site.
Mattinson has been an independent wine critic and photo-journalist 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 prized 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.
