Wine Front reviews - 2022 Chardonnay, Gamay & Pinot Noir

Chardonnay 2022
94 points - Pure fruit, perfect balance, lots of length. It will need time to build complexity but everything here appears to be in excellent working order. Pear, apple, grapefruit and white peach flavours come littered with sea shells and smoky, cedarwood oak. Nothing is overdone; everything glides along. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.

Gamay 2022
93 points - Inaugural release of a gamay from Bannockburn. It was grown on vines that were planted in 2014, they were only grafted over to gamay in 2019. It was fermented, wild, with 100% whole bunches (cab mac) and then, while still fermenting, was destemmed and pressed to one-year-old oak. This is a gorgeous wine to drink. It’s especially gorgeous if you don’t mind some reductive characters, which are overt at first though they gradually blow off, or largely so. It’s spicy, floral, exuberant in its strawberry-cherry flavours, blessed with garden herb/earth/woodsmoke characters – it’s wildly complex – but all the while it stays true to the main mission, which is to be a light red of immesh drinkability. This is a winner. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.

Pinot Noir 2022
95+ points - I really like where the Bannockburn wines are at right now. I guess that you’d call this light but its length and general insistence is right up there. Indeed over the course of 24 hours this just built and expanded in the most impressive of ways. It’s a minerally pinot noir, smoky and spicy, with red cherried flavour run through with herbs and twigs and undergrowth. In its infancy, now, it somehow manages to be quite remarkably complex; it will only add from here. Certainly it’s light but this is an outstanding pinot noir. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.

Grigsby Chardonnay 2022
95 points - This is the second release from the estate’s close-planted, certified organic vineyard. This is rich. If chardonnay flavour is your desire, then come hither. It offers a liberal serve of grilled peach flavour, with nectarine, citrus, sweet spice and cedarwood oak, and then layers custard powder characters through the aftertaste. It’s an excellent, well-tailored rendition of the fuller chardonnay style. Importantly it runs fresh and lengthy to close, with hints of reductive character there too, which is a bonus. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.

SRH Chardonnay 2022
97 points - Grown on 12 rows of chardonnay planted at Bannockburn near Geelong in the mid 1970s. Great release. Commanding. Assertively fruited, structured through the finish, and long. Grapefruit and grilled peach, woodsmoke, cedar, mineral and flint. No ifs or buts. No need for waffle. This is a beautiful Australian chardonnay. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.

De La Terre Pinot Noir 2022
94+ points - Pinot noir to its back teeth, in the best of ways. So complex, so earthen, so strewn with undergrowth and herbs, but simultaneously lively with fruit, or enough so. Glossy oak, sweet-sour cherries and all those complexing elements lead to a sustained, expansive finish. Yes. Excellent. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.

Serré Pinot Noir 2022
96 points - This release is a wonder to behold. It’s firm, svelte, powerful and complex, with terrific length and all-round conviction. It’s a wine with X-factor. It tastes of earth and macerated cherries, strawberries and woodsy spice, undergrowth and fresh beet. It captivates you at hello and makes you sorrowful at goodbye. This is Bannockburn at its best, its greatness bell clear. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.