Briar Ridge The Squire Chardonnay 2025
$29, 12% alcohol, screwcap, Hunter Valley.
This chardonnay is on its way to a very good place. It’s drinking well right now but in another 6 to 12 months it will be better again. It tastes of nectarine, hay, cedar, citrus and peach, and from start to finish it feels energetic and engaging. It’s a bit of a steal, just quietly. If you have some patience you’re onto a very good thing here. 92 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.
