Tucked away off the beaten track, an ancient barn at Jones Road offers fantastic vistas of the rolling Moorooduc countryside. But the converted piggery is not just about sightseeing. The neighbouring Grange and Nepean Blocks deliver small but splendid harvests of intense Chardonnay grapes with superb flavour development and bright natural acidity. The team aim to capture all the classic Mornington Peninsula grapefruit, peach and nectarine fruit characters, retaining all the freshness whilst adding complexity and texture throughout the vinification process.

Crafted from the meagre harvest of a precious two acres Chardonnay, planted to the top of a felicitious slope that looks away towards the idyllic pastorals of Victoria's fertile western agriculture. Irrewarra wines are encouraged in the making, to be articulate of the season in which they are grown, to express a pride of provenance and sense of place. It's all about the treatise of terroir at Irrewarra, composing Chardonnay of real structure, big boned, fruity and fleshed, a luxurious minerality in aqueous suspension of penetrating grapefruit characters, cumquat, seashells and brine.

A compelling experience in Chardonnay, crafted by a team of winemakers and viticulturalists who eschew the bland direction and market dominance, increasingly exerted by the oligopoly of corporate players. In a nutshell, they see themselves as innocent bystanders. A collation of Yarra valley harvests from the Primavera, Shaws Road and Tarraford sites, assembled around a core of splendid fruit from the distinguished Sexton estate vineyard on the Warramate Ranges at Coldstream.

A single superior block of vine at Gembrook, planted to the coolest aspects of the steepest slope on Hoddles Creek, always yielding a finely articulated Chablis style of Chardonnay, defined by its elegance, crystalline texture and exceptional length. Sheltered from the direct rays of the afternoon sun, the precious grapes in Syberia ripen slowly for a harvest that's without peer, the hand picked bunches are pressed to a selection of oak for ferments in the traditional Burgundian way, a strict barrel cull for excellence, reduces the final yield to a mere hundred dozen.

Hoddles Creek was planned and developed from day one, with a view to crafting an artful range of superlative Yarra Valley wines. The most arduous aspects were planted, because they offered the best promise of outstanding quality fruit. Chilly mornings, vivid afternoon sun and extended ripening, profound vintages of intensely ripened berries. Enter an exquisitely proportioned Chardonnay which captures the attention with its broad bouquet and evocative perfumes, a match to coquille st jacques, seared pesto chicken or tuna steaks under dill, champignon and creme fraiche.

From a legendery Yarra Valley vineyard at Hoddles Creek, planted to a sorely challenging 32 degrees slope, a full hundred metres drop from top to bottom. Bastard Hill is a single block of exceptional vines, yielding a vigorous grapefruit nectarine style of Chardonnay, treated to the richness of wild indigenous yeast oak barrel ferments. An opulent, lees textural, big butternut palate, redolent of orchard fruits, honeycomb and brioche, mouthfilling and complex, layered with character and soundly structured, the Chardonnay of choice to accompany truffled squab or glazed crackling pork.

The original block of Gracebrook Chardonnay was established in 1989, on a fertile river flat paddock that's sited very near the homestead. The first vintage of Chardonnay grapes were sold to Baileys of Glenrowan, subsequent vintages found their way into some of Victoria's most esteemed labels. In 1994 a small batch of estate made Chardonnay was entered in the King Valley Shed Wine Show where it won Best in Class. A superior effort in Chardonnay, from the salubrious cool ripening climes of Victoria's high country.

The first parcels of Golden Ball were planted to two choice clones of Burgundian Chardonnay in 1996, husbanded from inception with a view to yielding measured harvests of the most outstanding fruit. Grapes are all hand picked and sorted for excellence, filled to an opulent proportion of new French coopered oak and treated to a wild vineyard yeasts ferment, full malolactic, lees stirring battonage and the luxury of seventeen months maturation. Grapefruits and durian, brûlée and flan, awesome weight of fruit and palate roundness, pursing apple tang and barrel ferment richness.

Assembled from a tally of the most illustrious Yarra Valley sites, Sexton Vineyard, Tarraford and Gruyere Farm, Applejack and Wombat Creek. Gingerly hand picked for whole bunch pressing and wild yeast ferments in 500 litres French oak puncheons, achieving a fully animate Chardonnay style, redolent of citrus and melon, creamy yet crystalline, offering a palate and breadth of exceptional balance and poise. Giant Steps are meticulous in all things Chardonnay, retaining the vitality of fruit from within the vineyard and encouraging the eloquence of each site as it speaks from the glass.

From the highest plantings in all Yarra Valley, Wombat Creek was established in the 1990s, with a view to assembling choice blocks Chardonnay and Pinot Noir into a premier Victorian sparkler. The quality of fruit however, now merits bottling as a superior growth in the Burgundian style. A rich, gorgeously proportioned Chardonnay, fully fleshed and exquisitely balanced, opulent with the boldness of grapefruit and butternut, complexed by the oyster shell and flint characters of a magnificently loqacious terroir, made to match alongside a sizzling sauté of frogs leg, chanterelles and snail.

The Giant Steps team pointedly sourced several conspicuous clones of Chardonnay from California, Burgundy and Champagne, to be established on the coolest, lowest slopes of the superlative Sexton property. Vine vigor and yields are naturally low, encouraging a low intervention approach to hand managed viticulture. The crisp, cool ripening conditions and flinty, almost mean soils of Yarra Valley's temperate slopes yield a vibrant style of Chardonnay in the nectarine, citrus, melon and white peach range of flavours.

Applejack was established 1997 along a breathtaking vista at Gladysdale on the Upper Yarra, a place of higher altitudes and cooler climes, ideal for mouth filling vintages of structured Chardonnay wines. Grapes are all hand picked and gingerly pressed into 500 litres French oak puncheons for a wild, indigenous yeast ferment. A course of hand stirred lees battonage releases the complexities within the sediments and infuses the palate with layers of character. Defined by its fruit flan delish and seasoned with sprinklings of baking spice, a mere 600 cases are made each vintage.

Harvests of Chardonnay are collated from some of the finest vineyards, to be vinified and assembled by the Four Sisters team into a refreshing young wine. Grapes displaying peach and melon characteristics form the backbone, while parcels offering vegetal and minerality add to the complexity, masterfully harmonized into a lively fruit driven Chardonnay wine, the perfect luncheon white.

Evelyn County Estate continues to make thumping award winning Chardonnays. Chardonnay was one of the first three varieties to be planted at the vineyard in 95, whilst the first vintage Chardonnay was selected to be included on the Sydney Opera House's Bennalong Restaurant wine list. The year's growing season allowed for ideal fruit ripeness, whilst maintaining perfect natural acidity, a feature that is becoming pleasingly predictable in fruit sourced from the Evelyn County vineyard. The fruit displayed an intensity and power that carried through to the nose and the palate of the resulting wine.

Moet & Chandon originally acquired the Green Point property with the intention of establishing a prestigious Australian label. Set in the verdant hills of Victoria's beautiful Yarra Valley, Domain Chandon continue to over deliver, completely dedicated to the production of the finest quality, cool climate wines. The excellence of their renowned sparkling is due in no small part to the quality of the estate's Yarra Valley Chardonnay. A regimen of extravagant Burgundian techniques achieve an immensely satisfying, mouth filling wine.

Blanc de Blanc is exclusively Chardonnay, a wine of intense elegance, cleanliness and heightened varietal expression. Fashioned to the essential Methode traditionnelle style, the choicest parcels of Chardonnay from Green Point Vineyard are assembled alongside components grown to the splendid slow ripening climes of Macedon and Tasmania, Strathbogie and Valley King. Endowed with a tight palate structure, vibrant fruit characters and refined acidity, Blanc de Blancs is a profoundly fresh and elegant wine with deliciously soft dry finish.

Diamond Valley have long been called upon for the quality of their Chardonnay, truly one of Victoria's quiet achievers with a succession of memorable vintages which are quite out of proportion to it's tiny size. Devotees of fine Yarra Valley Chardonnay will find Blue Label fully engrossing for it's complex yet seamless integration, enthusiasts of approachable and engaging white wines will be ingratiated by Diamond Valley's reliance on more fruit and less oak.

De Bortoli can lay claim to a tradition of compelling Chardonnay wines. Their award winning efforts have made an essential contribution to the evolution of Chardonnay in Australia. Grapes for Vat 7 are selected from good vineyards which can yield the quality of fruit characterized by the luscious nectarine flavours that are so central to the style. A course of barrel ferments, malolactic and exposure to sedimentery yeast lees in oak makes for a richly textured Chardonnay wine with good colour, creamy textures and extravagant palate richness.

As the substantial inventory of De Bortoli estate and private grower vineyards continue to mature and to evolve their own individual character, many of these special sites, twenty years of age and older, are yielding unique and distinctive wines which articulate the expression of vineyard and terroir. Choice harvests which can demonstrate the affinity to be assembled into a Villages style of Yarra Valley wine, are co-vinified into a vital, unoaked Chardonnay of wild yeast battonage complexity and barrel ferment richness.

Fruit from the superlative Dixons Creek property continues to be the focus for tremendous single vineyard efforts by De Bortoli. There is a common thread in the detail and texture of wine from these older sites, as influenced by the vagaries of growing season and clime. Some splendid blocks of vine were established decades ago, today they yield the finest harvests in Yarra Valley. Fashioned from the pick of fruit on Section A5 at Dixons Creek, an extraordinary Chardonnay of prominent peach, melon and fig characters, a wine of focus, power and restraint.

Lusatia Park is one of the most distinguished vineyards in Yarra Valley, choice clones of closely spaced vines were planted to the north facing Block A in 1995, they yield a spectacular harvest of intense, finely structured Chardonnay with each vintage. Fruit is hand sorted and whole bunch pressed, racked to barrel for a wild yeast ferment and completion of malolactic, followed by a course of intermittent lees stirring until the spring. A minerally, highly nuanced style of Chardonnay, creamy textured with a gentle acidity, mouthfilling and briny in the old world way, delicious.

De Bortoli are all about nurturing the endowments of the land to be enthused by the bequest of season, the personality of good wine is indeed defined by the disposition of nature. An exemplary effort in Yarra Valley Chardonnay, fashioned to articulate a cornucopia of complex fruit characters over rich barrel ferment extracts, seasoned by nutty, vanilla cashew notes. The palate is superbly textured and manifestly elegant, captivating and compelling, before a long, exquisitely poised finish that's just gorgeous.

This is the way it's done on Les grands vignobles de France, whole bunches, extravagant new oak ferments and an extended term of age. Quality of fruit however remains cardinal, terroir and the surrounding elements play the main role, a fortuitous confluence of the Macedon Ranges auspicious soils and propitious climes. Elegant, powerful, a golden delicious Burgundesque style, with the structure to expand and evolve, its vivid muscularity defines Curly Flat as the Chardonnay to match veal escalopes or succulent crackling pork.

Stimulated by the refreshing maritime winds of Port Phillip Bay, the propitious vines at Cornelius Vineyard yield a precious harvest of the most splendid Chardonnay with every vintage. Crushed into a costly selection of the finest French oak for a luxurious course of barrel ferments, Victoria's answer to Chablis, a big boned Chardonnay style of macadamia, match stick and mineral. Solidly structured and intense, a seamless integration of white peach, calvados and custard cream, fruit, acid and oak in magnificent balance, a long and lingering palate of multi dimensional richness.

The pinnacle of cool climate Chardonnay viticulture, an intensely flavoured wine in full bloom, made from a very strict selection of the finest parcels, assembled around a backbone of the highly prestigious, low yielding House Block. Produced only in years where the quality is deemed to be exceptional, Coldstream Reserve displays attractive cool climate characters of stonefruit and citrus. Oak plays an important role, but does not dominate. Secondary characters of barrel ferments and soil grape solids impart minerality, adding further layers of complexity.

With well in excess of a hundred hectares under vine, completely estate owned and operated, Coldstream Hills can exercise their options to source grapes from a litany of Upper Yarra as well as Lower Yarra Valley vineyards, ensuring that only the best quality fruit is included into their profound Chardonnays. In lesser years, Coldstream does not release a Reserve, directing all their finest parcels into this very wine. The classically cool climate style of Chardonnay, with excellent intensity of fruit, rejuvenating acids and tightly reined in, well controlled oak.