2024 Giaconda Estate Chardonnay Magnum 1.5L, Beechworth

There are few wines in the world that bring anticipation and longing. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti does it for some. Giaconda does it for me. The latest releases of 2024 Giaconda Chardonnay and 2024 Giaconda Roussanne represent the genius of vineyard site, the pinnacle of winemaker Rick Kinzbrunner’s intellectual powers, family custodianship and a perfect growing season. These two remarkable wines of differing dimension and expression are both transcendent wines of extraordinary and beguiling quality. A monumental success that will have lasting impact on the reputation of fine Australian wine. Wonderful! 

Pale medium colour. Exquisite pure grapefruit, apricot, nectarine aromas with underlying marzipan/ flinty notes. Superbly balanced with grapefruit, lime bitters, lemon pastille, nectarine fruits, fine slinky/ chalky textures, underlying grilled nut/ tonic water notes, lovely mid-palate viscosity/ weight and fresh linear and crisp acidity. Ethereal, creamy, and complex with slight al-dente texture lengthening the palate. Absolutely to die for. A magical experience. Beautiful and perfect to drink now but will hold and evolve. Drink to 2038

100 points Andrew Caillard, April 2026

The 2024 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay leads with walnuts and curry leaf, white pepper and wet chalk, pineapple, almond meal and pink grapefruit. It is both fresh and savory, and a thrust of powerful fruit and reduction in concert soar across the palate. The fruit flavors—nutty and citrus-laden, thanks to the P58 Chardonnay clone grown here on the gravel clay soils of the Victorian Alp foothills—linger long through the finish and allow the dissection of flavor, impact and texture to occur over time. This is a remarkable wine, one of incisive focus and attractive width of texture. It has few peers in its execution of style. This vintage is decidedly savory; its aperture of focus zeroed right in on the tension between the acidity, the reduction, the intensely saturated fruit and the phenolic structure.

In terms of comparison of this 2024 expression to previous vintages, the 2023 was a quiet, floral wine that has, since its release, grown on me and demands not to be overlooked. This 2024 is a bigger, more powerful wine than the 2023. The 2024 is tighter and more structural than the opulent 2022, which showed tremendous width on release and which only seems to be growing in bottle. The 2021 is a standalone wine in terms of bringing all of these elements together in an almost magical way; although having seen that vintage several times over the past few months, it should be, in my opinion, left alone for a few years before coming around to it again. Beyond that, there appears no limit to its life. I'd say this savory 2024 rendition of Giaconda Chardonnay tucks in just behind the 2021 for me in terms of pleasure, structure, length and power. I look forward to watching it further evolve over the coming week.

I was standing in the Giaconda vineyard in January 2024, and despite some intense rain around Central Victoria in the days leading up to my visit, the vineyard (further north) looked superb. It is elevated, well drained and well managed; the crop load looked healthy; and the condition of the berries was excellent. I thought at that time that the 2024 wine would be something to behold. That has played out to be correct. Drink to 2044.

99 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, March 2026

Well well, this is a more savoury and saline expression of Giaconda Chardonnay, and I like that very much. I’m thinking lime, green mango, nectarine, salted almond and pastry dough, a mint and white flower perfume, preserved lemon, and a relatively discreet amount of struck match. It’s juicy, leaning more towards ripe citrus in flavour, again that saline persuasion, and the spiced preserved lemon character is absolutely a theme here, right down to its pulpy texture, which is also gently chalky. Acidity is discreet and fresh, just enough to drive it along, though it’s not abrasive, and the finish is savoury and very long, lemon rind and green olive in the aftertaste, with a gentle pucker of grip to close. This is a calm and composed iteration of this wine, and it feels all just so. Outstanding.

98 points Gary Walsh for The Wine Front, March 2026

Light gold, with a hint of cyan, and a distinctive, intoxicating nose that can only be Giaconda. The initial salted popcorn and curry leaf reduction dissipates with air to reveal layers of stonefruits, preserved lemon, pink lady apple, yellow plum, mango skins, toasted banana leaf, hints of truffle, nougat, toasted brioche, turmeric root, spearmint and wonderfully expensive bruléed French oak.

In the mouth it’s a wine of abundance and returns to the bold grandeur of 2021, albeit with a little more refinement (dare i say). Full, glassy and explosive with notes of peach, tense nectarine, floral apples and multidimensional citrus that’s sprinkled with salt, charged with mineral-edged acidity, seasoned with layers of complex, savoury spice and gripped by fine, chalky tannins that bring tension and texture. It’s powerful, but balanced and floods the palate with flavour, growing more savoury and mineral as it unfurls over its long and reverberating tail that stuns. What a wine! Another extraordinary release of Grand Cru stature, making this 4 year winning streak from Giaconda legendary!

Marc Malouf Wine Worth Writing About, March 2026