2024 Domaine Naturaliste Floris Chardonnay, Margaret River

This is Dukes' entry-level chardonnay, but it's anything but entry level. This is a classy wine full of expression and style. On the nose, you get that white peach and nectarine combination with a little minerally, chalky influence. The palate is quite fine, but it's intense with a driving flavour profile. Minerally, chalky, and savoury, with a light grapefruit primary fruit character. Finishes very long in its linear journey.

94 points Ray Jordan rayjordanwine.com.au

Domaine Naturaliste Floris Chardonnay is a refined and quietly complex Margaret River Chardonnay that leans into elegance, texture and site expression rather than overt power. The fruit is sourced from cooler sites across the region, where gravelly loam soils over clay and laterite, combined with strong Indian Ocean influences, allow Chardonnay to ripen slowly while retaining natural acidity. These maritime conditions are ideal for producing Chardonnay with purity, finesse and a mineral edge, hallmarks of the Floris style.

Domaine Naturaliste was founded by Bruce Dukes, one of Margaret River’s most respected and thoughtful winemakers. After honing his craft at estates such as Moss Wood and Pierro, Dukes established Domaine Naturaliste with a clear focus on terroir driven wines that balance richness and restraint. Floris sits at the more elegant end of the Domaine Naturaliste Chardonnay spectrum, shaped by careful harvest timing, gentle handling and a measured approach to oak. Lees work is used to build texture and complexity, but always in service of freshness and line rather than weight.

In the glass the wine shows a pale straw colour with green gold highlights. Aromas are layered and inviting, offering white peach, nectarine and citrus zest alongside subtle notes of almond, oatmeal and a light flinty nuance. The palate is medium bodied and finely textured, delivering stone fruit and citrus flavours framed by bright acidity and a long, savoury finish with gentle saline and mineral notes. It is beautifully suited to seafood, roast chicken, creamy vegetable dishes and grilled fish, and while approachable in youth, it also has the balance to develop over five to eight years, gaining more nutty and savoury complexity with time.

Domaine Naturaliste Floris Chardonnay is a confident and precise Margaret River Chardonnay, offering elegance, texture and regional clarity, and showcasing Bruce Dukes’ talent for crafting refined, food driven wines.