2023 Derwent Estate Chardonnay, Derwent Valley

Silver at the 2025 and 2026 Tasmanian Wine Shows

This is a creamy yet delicate Chardonnay offering pure citrus and white orchard fruits seasoned with soft spice, vanilla and a tough of nougat. Its flavours are concentrated and expansive, with a fine line of acidity threading the fresh, harmonious components.

Would sit well with a thick pan-seared fillet of mulloway drizzled with some toasted almond and caper butter or grilled pork collar with a fennel and green pear salad.

More about this wine

This wine is made from fruit grown in Derwent Estate’s home vineyard, a north facing slope along the Derwent River where the 30-year-old Chardonnay vines of three different clones (I10V1, I10V5 and Penfolds) stand in well-draining soils over limestone.

The fruit was picked early to maintain an elegant style with finesse. The whole bunches were pressed under inert gas, with the pristine middle cycle directed straight to French oak barrels of which a quarter were new. The wild fermented wine was lees stirred fortnightly while in oak and allowed to go through malolactic conversion in spring before it was bottled with a light filtering in February the following year.

About this producer

Derwent Estate was established in 1992 when Trevor and Pat Hanigan planted their first vines on their Granton property in Tasmania’s Derwent River Valley. Local farmers since 1913, their son Andrew Hanigan represents the fifth generation on the site and is today the viticulturist of the family business.

Winemaker John Schuts has made the wines since 2003, initially as an external contract winemaker and since 2013 in-house, soon thereafter becoming a co-owner in the business.

Fruit is sourced mainly from the original site, today spreading over 20 hectares. This is supplemented by fruit from an additional, more recently acquired Coal River site, and smaller amounts bought from other growers across Tasmania.