Driftwood Single Site Chardonnay 2022

One Margaret River producer described the 2022 Chardonnays as possessing “elegance, purity and refined acidity.” I was reminded of his remarks when tasting this little beauty. The year brought a general overall fineness of expression to Chardonnay. Fruit is less plush than in some vintages but comes with great poise. Acidity is bright, juicy, and you could even say, refreshing. A sunny, sea breeze, briny perfume with white nectarine, peach, grapefruit, green melon and just a hint of quince paste. The delicacy of the scent is a perfect indication of the flavour that follows, focused and tight against an expressive middle palate. The acidity comes into play here. It’s not aggressive, but it arrives with a touch of grapefruit pithiness, a “bite” of tartness, that really lifts. A good one for the cellar, if that’s your thing.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic