2024 Serrat Chardonnay

If you love Yarra Valley Chardonnay, Serrat is essential drinking. From Tom and Nadège Carson’s close-planted vineyard just outside Yarra Glen, this is a wine that consistently punches well above its tiny production.

The 2024 release is drawn entirely from the Mendoza clone block planted in 2007. Whole-bunch pressed, wild-fermented in large-format French oak (only one new puncheon), and left on lees for 11 months, it’s as pure an expression of site and season as you’ll find.

In the glass, it’s all citrus blossom, nectarine and white pear, with a flicker of melon, struck match and flinty mineral detail. The palate shows an extra gear of concentration this year: richly fruited and textured, but with a mineral backbone that reins it all in and drives the finish long and taut. It’s coiled, polished and beautifully composed — Chardonnay of presence and poise.

Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion) gave it 97 points, praising its “verve and presence on the palate… really long. Really good.”

Tiny volumes, serious pedigree — this is one of the Yarra’s most compelling modern Chardonnays.

97 points
"Mendoza clone, whole-bunch pressed, natural-yeast fermented and matured in two seasoned 600L French oak barrels and one new puncheon. A bright green gold. Extremely complex with its bouquet of perfectly ripened white nectarine, pear, lemon verbena, iodine and a hint of nutmeg. Powerful and structured, this has real verve and presence on the palate. Really long. Really good."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)