When Penfolds began to create a white wine of the stature and image of Grange, several people asked why they didn't just buy Leeuwin Estate. Arguably Australia's leading white wine, Leeuwin's chardonnay is an explosive mouthful of concentrated, creamy Margaret River chardonnay enhanced with excellent oak. It's our best cellaring chardonnay as well. - Jeremy Oliver
Purchased by Trish and Denis Horgan, Leeuwin Estate lies just south of the Margaret River township. The Art Series Block 20 vineyard lies on deeply weathered and laterised soils with rocky outcrops of gneiss and ironstone gravels. Pristine Chardonnay fruit characters are preserved throughout vinification. The wine is 100% barrel fermented in selected new French oak and matured in the same barrel for approximately 12 months. These are rare, long-lived, fine-boned Chardonnays with superb fruit definition and clarity. They show a balance between exuberant fruit and savoury complexity. The palate is creamy yet a fine bead of acid cuts a swathe across the palate giving life and incredible length. It develops beautifully with grapefruit/melon aromas and complex lanolin nuances. - Andrew Caillard MW
Notwithstanding the challanges of Yattarna, giaconda, Petaluma Tiers and so forth, Leeuwin is my choice as Australia's best Chardonnay. - James Halliday
