The Apsley Gorge Chardonnay 2025 is a rich, textural cool-climate white from Bicheno on Tasmania's East Coast, built on ripe stone fruit and a fine seam of acid rather than austerity. Grown on a single hectare of mature, non-irrigated vines that ripen late thanks to the cooling afternoon breezes funnelling out of the gorge, it is a Chardonnay with generosity and drive in equal measure.

White peach and nectarine lead the aromatics, with lemon curd, hazelnut and a whiff of sea air behind them. Subtle French oak sits under the fruit rather than over it, adding toast and a faintly spicy lift as the wine opens.

Hand-picked fruit and low yields show in the concentration here. The 2025 has a broad, mouth-filling entry and a creamy mid-palate, then acidity draws the whole thing long and clean through a finish that keeps going well after the swallow. Texture is the point: chalky, layered, and more Burgundian in feel than most mainland Chardonnay.

Pour it with roast chicken and tarragon, seared scallops, a wedge of Comté, or East Coast crayfish done simply with butter and lemon.

Drink from now to 2033. The fruit and acid balance is already lovely, but this Bicheno Chardonnay has the structure to build nutty, honeyed complexity over five to eight years in a cool cellar.