2024 Kooyong Farrago Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula

The single-block chardonnays are some of my favourites, and here nothing is out of place, ready to drink or pop away to build more detail. Plenty of substance, though, all citrus and white stone fruit, soursob, creamy cashew lees aromas and flavours with a touch of spicy oak. Intense and finely tuned, this is moreish, almost thirst-quenching, thanks to the acidity. A super wine. Drink to 2035.

96 points Jane Faulkner for Halliday Wine Companion, August 2026

Mid-straw, bright and lively in the glass. There's some lovely lifted aromas of grapefruit pith, white flower, struck match, melon, just-ripe white stone fruit and grilled nuts. Textured, mouth-filling, layered and with a very smart drive of stone fruit, pithy citrus, a lick of complexing oak and some grippy phenolics. The length and presence are mightily impressive. Drink to 2036.

96 points Aaron Brasher for The Real Review, July 2026

Maybe it’s the high percentage of ironstone in the soil of the Farrago block, but there is something quite mineral, effortlessly bright and sunny about this wine. Brings attractive Peninsula Chardonnay qualities to bear – ripe stone fruits, citrus, lime, spring flowers and white florals to the aroma intertwined with baked bread, biscuit scents, almond meal and nutty hazelnut. That lovely nuttiness continues on the palate leading into layers of white peach, nectarine intensity with a lively citrus freshness and some deeper leesy, bready notes with biscotti.  Beautifully composed, compact and assured and so fresh and summery with a lively acidity in constant play. Drink to 2034.

95 points Jeni Port for Wine Pilot, July 2026

Kooyong is a specialist Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producer based at Tuerong on the Mornington Peninsula, where the Gjergja family has farmed 40 hectares of estate vines since 1996.

The Farrago is one of five distinct single blocks vinified separately. This block covers 0.7 hectares of 26-year-old Chardonnay vines within the larger 2.76 hectare Farrago site, on sedimentary soils with a high concentration of ironstone pebbles, a siliceous influence that drives linearity and minerality through the wine.

The fruit was gently whole-bunch pressed into 350-litre French oak puncheons of which 20% were new and fermented with indigenous yeasts. The wine rested on lees without stirring for eleven months and was racked once just prior to being bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.