2022 Penfolds Bin 144 Yattarna Chardonnay, Various

61% Tumbarumba, 26% Tasmania, 13% Adelaide Hills; matured 8 months in 44% new French oak barriques.

‘Tumbarumba has really come of age and its consistently producing some of our best chardonnay now. We have two growers who are producing stunning fruit year on year.’ Kim Schroeter

One of the best of recent vintages in Tumbarumba has elevated this to the majority composition of Yattarna and the highest proportion of the blend yet. I love its tension and focus, eminently coiled, backward and crunchy even at more than three years of age. Almost ripe fig, white peach and beurre bosc pear are the themes, well framed in the creamy demeanour and supple texture of eminently supportive French oak fermentation. There is an impressive core of fruit presence, tensioned with fully ripe yet impressively energetic acid line that carries a long and enduring finish. Yattarna represents the only significant price jump in this year’s Penfolds release, leaping more than 25%, from $175 to $220.

96 points tysonstelzer.com

The 2022 Yattarna Chardonnay comprises fruit from Tumbarumba (61%), Tasmania (particularly Coal River Valley, 26%) and the balance from the Adelaide Hills. This wine ages slowly and gracefully, and I love it for that. The phenolics frame a powerful core of fruit that is at once streamlined and wide. It blankets the mouth and persists long after the wine is gone. At this stage, it feels inchoate in its development: tiny fish hooks of texture and a frisky sort of acid line both indicate that the wine has some time to go before it fully realizes its potential. This is forever the blue-chip investment in this collection for my taste, and there is a perpetually seamless cohesion of malolactic fermentation into the wine. The Yattarna is fully inoculated with estate-developed yeast strains, built in conjunction over time with the AWRI. It has 12.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.11 and 6.8 grams per liter of total acidity, and it matured for eight months in French barriques (44% new).

97+ points EL robertparker.com

The 2021 was an absolute beauty and Penfolds white winemaker Kym Schroeter has managed to craft an equally impressive multi-regional chardonnay from 2022 as a follow-up. It's all filagreed nuance and tension with pure citrus and fleshy stone fruits, cut with hints of soft spice, créme frâiche, oatmeal, grilled nuts, lemon curd, marzipan, lemongrass, oyster shell and river stone. It shows a pitch perfect textural sway, with a touch of pith, a fine, filagreed acid profile and a long finish with tones of softly spoken oak spice, almond meal, citrus and grilled nuts. A wonderful release.

97 points Dave Brookes winecompanion.com.au

There is a cooler aura to this, perhaps, than the other chardonnays. Spruce, nettle and lemon curd to camembert on the nose, shifting gears to stone fruit references and a glimpse of praline, cashew, pistachio and nougat at the core. A mid-weighted wine that wields an orb of reductive tension across a compact, immensely concentrated mid-palate, paradoxically giving an impression of calmness and levity. An excellent Yattarna. Drinkable now, but best from 2025.

97 points Ned Goodwin MW winecompanion.com.au

Light yellow hue; subtle, reserved smoky/struck-flint and toasty aromas, a little peanut and fruit is quite in the background. Palate is remarkably restrained, delicate, and tight. It's very youthful and backward, seems to taper off rather quickly to a shortened finish, and is only showing a fraction of what is anticipated in the future. The quality is obvious, but I'd like to re-evaluate this in a year or two. (61% Tumbarumba, 26% Tasmania, 13% Adelaide Hills) 03 JUL 2024 Drink 2026–2037

93 points HH therealreview.com

Lemon with a green tinge. The nose brings notes of fresh parchment and cut hay. A crisp freshness of cucumber melds with the zest of lemongrass and Thai basil, infusing the nose with herbaceous charm. The citrus spectrum is represented by smooth lemon curd and candied lime, offering both richness and vivacity to this complex aroma profile.

Watermelon granita gives way to a texture that is grippy yet refined. Oyster shell merges with sugar figs and kiwifruit, creating a multifaceted palate. Peppery watercress enhances the wine’s length. A suggestion of Portuguese custard tart — custard and brittle pastry — evokes a sense of textural indulgence, while fine acid provides a backbone that brings balance and poise.

Peak Drinking 2025 – 2044