2023 3 Drops Chardonnay, Great Southern

A beautifully fragrant and delightfully presented chardonnay from this excellent season. The nose is a merging of vanilla bean and lemon curd with a light nectarine-like influence. The palate is so well balanced with a fine precise feel. Just a little light toast adds to the finish. Drink 2026-2029.

93 points Ray Jordan, Wine Review 2026

Lovely fragrant and quite complex, lemon, grapefruit and honey/butter aromas, the palate delicate yet intense, with a slight grip and some bitterness accentuated by alcohol warmth. The grapefruit character is quite dominant. Nice wine indeed and better with food, no doubt. Drink 2024–2032.

90 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, April 2024

A supple, more opulent style of chardonnay, but finds good balance between riper stone fruit notes, pineapple, red apple and the mesh of nougat, vanilla cream and cinnamon spice that seasons the wine. Good flow here, flavoursome but fresh, too – all more items in the positive ledger. A kind of old-school, good-school feel. Maybe a little elementary, but really easy to like in its style. Drink 2025-2030.

90 points Mike Bennie for Halliday Wine Companion, March 2025

Rob Diletti has been making the wines at Three Drops since their first vintage in 2003, and the Chardonnay from the Patterson Vineyard is consistently one of his best. The fruit is sourced from the 1982-planted block — the same old vines that produce the Pinot Noir — and the cool-climate character of Mount Barker runs clearly through both wines.

The 2023 season was one of the cooler recent vintages in the Great Southern, which gave the Chardonnay its brightness and precision. Juice was pressed with a small inclusion of solids for texture before barrel fermentation, then lees aged to build complexity and mouthfeel. The result sits in the more textural, detailed end of the style — not the soft and generous Chardonnay template, but something with a little more nerve to it.

Pale straw, the nose is fragrant and layered — nectarine, pink grapefruit, a mealy struck-match character and subtle French oak. The palate is full and fresh simultaneously, with stone fruit, lively acidity and a long, clean finish with good persistence. Drinks well now and will develop nicely over the next four to five years.

Sushi and sashimi, steamed barramundi with ginger and shallots, roast chicken or a good soft cheese. One of those Chardonnays that works across a wide table without asking much of the food.

Drink now through 2029.