Juniper Cornerstone Karridale Vineyard Chardonnay 2025
- 95
- $80
- Drink by: 2026-2031
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Juniper’s Karridale vineyard is 40 kilometres south of its Wilyabrup quarters. It’s a beautiful site. Undulating, quiet and slightly inland (for Margaret River). In local lingo, it falls within ‘Ferngrove’, an unofficial subregion within Karridale, which is also an unofficial subregion of Margaret River. Stay with me. The Chardonnay block is around a hectare and planted largely to Gin Gin clone. But all you really need to know is that this vineyard sits in the cooler southern end of the region, on sandier soils. Together, those conditions likely explain this wine’s fabulously salty edge and the linear acid that frames its powerful fruit density. Grilled lime, flake salt and yellow grapefruit. This wine is pure and detailed, with as much tension as a Pilates teacher on a reformer. In the mouth, wildness and power meet restraint and poise. Do that maths? There’s a salty-phenolic grip, plus texture from wild fermentation and French oak. The flavour leans almost into lemon sorbet territory, with some clove and cinnamon too. An ever-delicious wine. And the perfect aphrodisiac. If this is what winemaker Andrew Bretherton made from the somewhat challenging 2025 vintage, I’m pumped to get my hands on the 26.
A hopeless romantic for wine and food, Cyndal is nearing 15 years in hospitality while still (just) under 30. A Chef-turned-Sommelier and award-winning wine professional, Cyndal recently left a Group Sommelier role where she curated seven wine lists across multiple venues and led the wine team to Gourmet Traveller Wine Bar of the Year—just months after opening. Now freelance, Cyndal is a wine consultant, event host, wine judge, and wine writer. Passionate about sharing wine’s story with the world, she brings a fresh voice and creative solutions to the industry. After studying and traveling through most of her 20s, she’s now based in WA’s southwest, proudly embracing her role as a WA coastal cowgirl.
