2024 Mordrelle Lenswood Single Vineyard Chardonnay

When reds failed across the Adelaide Hills in the tough, mildew-plagued vintage of 2011, Martin Moran went looking for grapes elsewhere in the region and found something worth chasing - Chardonnay from Lenswood, a cool, elevated pocket of the Hills built for the variety. He's been coming back to it ever since, and this single vineyard bottling shows why: fermented in used French oak, made in an old-school, good-school kind of way. The 2024 is plush and lush, with saline minerality - weighty but fresh, that will satisfy buttery Chardonnay lovers as well as those who like something more tense and fresh. Cool, bright and fine - Halliday's Mike Bennie called it "a very elegant, textural expression, with no hair out of place," scoring it 95 points. For anyone after Adelaide Hills Chardonnay with texture and detail, this, from a bloke best known for his reds, is a bit of a surprise packet. 95 points "A plush and lush style of chardonnay with requisite cut of saline minerality, crisp, lemony acidity and a swish of salted nut, nougat savouriness overlaid... Delicious." - Mike Bennie (Halliday Wine Companion)