TarraWarra Swallowfield Chardonnay 2024

TarraWarra Swallowfield Chardonnay 2024
$80, 13% alcohol, screwcap, Yarra Valley.

There’s a new era at TarraWarra with Sarah Fagan making the wines, Samantha Isherwood as the GM and Chris Beard as the viticulturist. Exciting times. This single vineyard release – and its Southern Slopes Chardonnay 2024 sibling – is the first sure or major sign that changes have been made; the Swallowfield Vineyard is at Gembrook in the cool Upper Yarra, which is something of a statement. We’re going cooler. We’re going for refinement. Which is nothing against the previous era at TarraWarra, which had multiple high points over a long period of time.

This wine. It’s a beauty. It’s going to mature like an absolute darling. It has a shell-grit aspect, and a softness to its acidity, and an understatement, and a creaminess, and a long, slow, confident exhalation of flavour through the finish. It has a crisp water-colour aspect and yet it does not want for flavour. It’s not chardonnay 101, it’s chardonnay 303. It’s a couples of grades up. Stash it for two more years, and then drink over the next ten. 95 points.

Last year the new era of TarraWarra was featured in this article.

I’ve just tasted the TarraWarra Swallowfield Pinot Noir 2024 for The Winefront and that’s an exciting Pinot Noir if ever there was one.