Thorn-Clarke Sandpiper Chardonnay 2018 (6 x 750mL), Eden Valley, SA.

Expert Reviews

Wine of the Week – Winsor Dobbin

You don't find many chardonnays this stylish for under $20 a bottle. This is razor-sharp on trend with cool-climate fruit from the Eden Valley producing a wine that has plenty of flavour but is also refined and delicate. It's all about the quality fruit with citrus notes and white stone fruit flavours combining impressively with a small percentage of French oak. Lees contact has added some texture. There is everything you'd want in a modern Aussie chardonnay here; it's well worth snapping up a case for Christmas.

16.5/20 – Raymond Chan

Bright, very pale straw colour, near colourless. The nose is elegant and slender in proportion with a fresh heart of white and yellow stone fruits along with nuances of citrus fruit interwoven with some nutty oak. This is steely and refreshing in expression. Medium-bodied, the palate is elegant and gently fresh with restrained flavours of white and yellow stone fruits, citrus fruit and a little nutty oak. The mouthfeel is brisk and fresh with crisp acidity, and the wine flows along a very fine-textured line with moderate drive and a light finish. This is an elegant, gently refreshing Chardonnay with light flavours and fresh acidity. Serve as an aperitif and with seafood over the next 2-3 years. ‘Mount Crawford’ Eden Valley fruit fermented in stainless-steel with 20% in new French oak to 12.0% alc., the wine aged 4 months in barrel with batonnage, but avoiding MLF.