Giaconda Estate Vineyard was founded by former engineer Rick Kinzbrunner in Beechworth, Victoria. This renowned south-facing site sits at 400 metres and is organically farmed. Its granitic loam soils over gravel and clay, along with protection from direct sun, create an ideal, cool-climate terroir for Chardonnay. With direction from Etablissments JP Moueix, Giaconda Estate is making it’s debut around the world.

The Estate Chardonnay is handpicked in the cool morning, gently pressed, and fermented in French oak (30% new). It spends 20 months ageing in a granite caves with stable temperature and humidity. The result is a precise, layered wine with citrus, stone fruit, and striking minerality.

This Chardonnay pairs beautifully with rich, savoury dishes. Roast chicken, lobster risotto, truffle pasta, or aged cheese. Anything that highlights its structure and complexity.

“The 2022 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay follows hot on the heels of the perfect 2021 release, and in doing so, it has big boots to fill. Aromatically, the wine leads, as all Giaconda Chardonnay’s do, with white flowers and notions of campfire and charred gum leaves, cracked white peppercorns and white peach, salt and caper brine. Crushed and salted nuts, enoki mushroom, shaved fennel, torched pink grapefruit … the cavalcade of flavors march on across the palate. In this season, the wine is altogether more quietly nuanced and placid than the sleek, powerfully focused 2021 vintage. However, in so saying, this wine is balanced and fine, somewhat less overtly reductive (although still imbued with that salivating characteristic), populated by softer-spoken fruit and yet no less sapid or palate staining. It is in the mouth that the pedigree of the wine comes to the fore. The chalky texture and the penetrating intensity of flavor in combination are what make this wine so great, as I see it, and the 2022 vintage provides a gentle framework within which the wine exists. This is a gorgeous, elegant, precise and detailed release of this magnificent wine. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.”
98 points, Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate, May 2024

“The nose is mineral- and saline-driven, with expressive stone fruit aromas supported by notes of flint, grapefruit pith, shortbread cookies and graphite. The palate is giving and expressive, with high-tension acidity, a generous mouthfeel and a long-lasting finish. Exceptionally well balanced, with a high level of sophistication. Excellent. Drink or hold. Screw cap.”
98 points, James Suckling, October 2024