Vandenberg Estate Mt Benson Chardonnay 2025
$35, 14% alcohol, screwcap, Mount Benson.
Fruit power and lots of it. This is an excellent chardonnay. Grapefruit, grilled peach, cooked apple and citrus flavours come gently cloaked in cedarwood oak. It’s both bright and bodied through the palate – and is fully satisfying as a result – but it then hones perfectly through the finish. Plenty of class on offer here; not to mention flavour. 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 both the highly respected The Winefront site (founded 2002) 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.
