2023 Eastern Peake Intrinsic Chardonnay

Owen Latta has a gift for Chardonnay that feels alive in the glass. The Intrinsic is drawn from the family’s high, windswept vineyard on volcanic soils at 430m - a site that delivers fruit with natural verve and edge.

In 2023, a tricky season kept Owen busy in the vines, but the payoff is a wine that hums with energy. Whole-bunch pressed and fermented with indigenous yeasts, then raised in old barrels of every size and shape (some 25 years old, none new), this is Chardonnay stripped of pretence. It’s all about purity, texture and vineyard character.

The flavours lean to citrus oil, white peach and crushed stone, with a savoury, nutty thread running underneath. There’s no oak heaviness, just a sense of tension and minerality wrapped in Owen’s signature balance of freshness and depth. It’s mouthwatering now, but there’s no doubt it will age gracefully over the next decade.

Like all his wines, the Intrinsic Chardonnay feels very personal - meticulous farming, hands-off winemaking, and a style that’s unmistakably Owen's own with a bit of funk and flint. In a world of polished Australian Chardonnay, this stands apart for its authenticity and character.

97 points
"I am in complete submission. A true bedazzling light in Australian Chardonnay, it has my heart and always will."
- Shanteh Wale (Wine Pilot)