Margaret River Chardonnay

Good for: drinking

This post is dedicated to Margaret River Chardonnay's in general. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of the wine from our trip to Margaret River as we drank them pretty much as soon as we got back and we hadn't started this website yet.

Before this trip, I had a severe dislike for Chardonnay. Perhaps it's because it is Mum's wine of choice and that's what I started tasting when younger or because of those harsh, cheap,oakey Chardonnay's that are unfortunately available. Either way, whenever I'm asked what wine I would like at a restaurant with a group of friends, colleagues or clients, I always say anything except Chardonnay - and I meant it... until now. Now I will say, anything except Chardonnay, unless the Chardonnay is from Margaret River. Nearly every Chardonnay we tried whilst visiting Margaret River was amazing. It was an awakening to say the least and one I'm very glad to have discovered.

Between the grapes in this region and the more modern take on creating these newer Chardonnay's you experience a balanced yet light, creamy yet citrusy, strong but not overpowering wine. I do generalize as the one thing I felt is that many of the Chardonnay's tasted fairly similar for the newer releases (we tried a couple of older vintages at Voyager Estate that did have a deeper, fuller, flavour however our pockets weren't as deep and full to purchase any for home!) We also did the Voyager Estate 6 course Discovery Menu with matching wines which we would highly highly recommend and have posted a blog under restaurant reviews.

Wines in particular we liked:

Cape Mentelle 2014 Chardonnay

Voyager Estate 2004 Chardonnay

Voyager Estate 2010 Chardonnay

Voyager Estate 2014 Chardonnay

Xanadu 2015 Chardonnay

Leeuwin Estate 2015 Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay