2024 Ministry of Clouds Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills

From three sites – Ashton in Piccadilly, Birdwood and Woodside – picked over three weeks; wild barrel ferment, with 28% new wood, seven months in oak, then two months blended in steel. This is a complex beast. Not complicated, just layered and detailed – a wine, in the house style, of refined detail. Quality oak resonates in accord with the fruit. Grilled peach, ginger, salted praline, yellow grapefruit, ripe nectarine, roasted hazelnuts, a hint of oyster shell. The palate is energetic and textural, just so poised in its balance, the acidity citric but ‘ripe’, yielding both exceptional freshness and uninterrupted flow of flavour. All class. Drink 2025 to 2032.

96 points Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion, Special Value, April 2026

The 2024 Chardonnay is from Adelaide Hills—from three vineyards: Lofty Valley, which is cold, steep and north-facing, high up near Piccadilly Valley; two Bernard clones from a vineyard owned by one of the Hill-Smith family; and a site in Birdwood. The fruit was whole-bunch pressed, settled naturally and sent to barrel for wild ferment. The wine is preferentially not stirred, and the winemaking is straightforward but highly nuanced—the utilization of custom pie de cuves and some other levers pulled during the construction of the wines are all considered. The wine was matured for just seven months, although the following two months showed the blend in stainless tank prior to bottling. Aromatically, the wine shows nuts and pale orchard fruit, with a smooth, complex palate that flows with sophistication and persistence. It is very good. Drink 2025 to 2035.

93 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, December 2025

Bernice Ong and Julian Forwood launched Ministry of Clouds in 2012, bringing between them close to three decades of experience working for some of Australia's most respected wine producers. Based in McLaren Vale, their reds draw on old vine fruit from the Vale's ancient soils, while their whites take them further afield — to the Clare Valley for Riesling and to the Adelaide Hills for this Chardonnay, where the cool subregions of Piccadilly Valley, Birdwood, Woodside and Echunga provide the freshness and tension the variety demands.

Fruit was hand-picked across three weeks from low yielding sites, allowing layered complexity and varying degrees of ripeness to build across the blend. Whole bunch pressed with full solids included for wild barrel fermentation, with 28% new French oak. Post fermentation, barrels were left unsulphured while natural acidity and gentle malolactic complexity found their balance. A third of barrels were selected for battonage to build texture without sacrificing line, with seven months maturation on fine lees in French oak followed by a further two months in stainless steel to allow the blend to knit together before bottling.

At 12.5% alcohol, this is a Chardonnay built on finesse rather than weight. The nose is shy and restrained at first — spiced ginger, white flowers and green nectarine, with hints of nougat and grilled peach emerging with air. The palate is energetic and precise, with a bedrock of chalky minerality, salted praline, roasted hazelnuts and ripe citrus acidity that flows seamlessly from first sip to a long, detailed finish.

All class, and a natural match for roast chicken with herbs and garlic, grilled fish or anything where brightness and texture at the table are the priority.

Drink now through 2032, with further complexity to reward patience.