2025 Forest Hill Block 8 Chardonnay, Mount Barker

A class act here. Tightly wound and yet an inward juiciness. An array of exotic, sweet spice on green apple, cumquat, nougat and pulpy grapefruit characters. Lots of perfume, precise in flavours, long-lived in its trail of spice and saline minerality. A very complete and elegant wine. Drink to 2033.

95 points Mike Bennie for Halliday Wine Companion, June 2026

The 2025 Block 8 Chardonnay is delicate and fresh, detailed and spicy. It has notes of fresh sweet mint, white peach, green apple, brine and toasted cashews. In the mouth, this is mouthwatering and salty, with lingering flavors that extend beyond the last. This is very impressive and one of my favorite Block 8 Chardonnay releases to date. This is lean without being overloaded with acidity, which, while present, feels juicy and integrated. There's an electricity on the palate, and perhaps it has something to do with dry extract—regardless, it's very impressive. This is really good. Drink to 2036.

95 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, April 2026

The grapes for the 2025 vintage Block 8 were hand harvested over three days, and each parcel chilled overnight and sorted the morning after. Whole bunch pressed, with free run juice and full solids directed to a combination of French oak barriques, hogsheads and puncheons, of which 25% were new. Fermented with indigenous yeasts, held cool at the start and allowed to warm to ambient temperatures before a short period of stirring and partial malolactic fermentation.

About Forest Hill

Forest Hill Vineyard is a family-owned business established in 1965 by Betty and Tony Pearse with guidance from the WA Department of Agricultural. It was the first commercial vineyard to planted in the Great Southern, laying foundations for a region that is today widely recognised for wines of elegance and purity. The current owners have been custodians of the historic property since 1996.

Located in the subregion of Mount Barker, the vineyard sits at 220m to 240m altitude approximately 40km from the coast. This part of the Great Southern enjoys long, temperate growing seasons with significant diurnal temperature variations, and sits at the northern edge of the Nornalup geological complex, a mix of ancient rock types that over time have weathered into deep laterite blankets, leaving ironstone gravel as the dominant soil type across the vineyard. Clay content varies from one block to another, alongside differing concentrations of gravel and loam.

Many of the original dry-grown vines planted in the 1960s continue to thrive today and remain the foundation of the wines produced. New vines are propagated from this heritage and complimented by more recent clonal material. The property is farmed with organic principals and with practical aspects of regenerative farming such as incorporation of grazing livestock, multi-species cover crops and mulch/compost applications: happy vines make good wines.