Thompson Estate Margaret River Chardonnay 2022

Wine writers use lots of fancy words to describe wine. Some words fail miserably to impart a wine’s taste, some not. I hope I’m not failing into the former category when I describe this Margaret River charmer from the 2022 vintage as “forward in personality.” Let me explain. Classic Margaret River weather – clear days, cool nights – in 2022 delivered what one winemaker has called a “cracker” of a harvest. That translated into a plush, generosity of fruit that can’t fail to impress. It’s all there right now in the glass. No waiting required. The inviting scent gives it away: yellow peach, pear, Meyer lemon, hazelnut, lemon butter. There is a ripe, warm, buttery, nutty quality attached to the citrus and stone fruits that brings such flavour pleasure to the glass. It combines with a distinct saline tang and bright acidity that brings some ying to the fruit’s yang. Totally delicious.

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