2018 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Art Series Margaret River Australia 750 ml

Leeuwin Estate is an exemplar of Chardonnay excellence. Not just for Australia, but worldwide. It’s got a 97-point score that matches Grand Cru bottles from Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, and Premier Cru Meursault, plus a harmonious complexity that proves it doesn’t just belong in the top tier—it stands out there.

This is a collector’s dream: A white wine that challenges the best in the world, year-in and year-out. But while other 97-point 2018s can approach four-digit prices—Domaine Ramonet ($923), Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey ($948)—this one comes for less than $80, an unbeatable price. Our 50 cases are some of the only ones in the US.

There are only so many ways to say “best,” and critics have used quite a few of them in describing Leeuwin’s Art Series Chardonnay. Wine Advocate has called it “iconic,” and “an annual candidate for Chardonnay of the Year.” Wine Enthusiast labeled it “a standard-bearer for… all of Australia.” And James Suckling has called past vintages “the Aston Martin of chardonnay.”

In their effusive, 97-point review of this 2018, Decanter praised this wine as “a luminous, graceful and balanced powerhouse,” and “THE ICON.” We found ourselves writing our notes in all caps too, out of pure excitement for this wine. The nose is vibrant with aromas of Asian pear, fresh quince, lemon zest, yellow flowers, clove, and cardamom. Excellent weight and bright acidity on the palate carry notes of pear, fresh apple, and hazelnut, with lightly toasted oak from its eleven-month barrel aging regimen.

This wine is only poised to improve, as Australian wine authority James Halliday has noted, writing that older vintages of the Art Series can be “reminiscent of top Meursault.” Praise for Chardonnay really doesn’t get any higher than that. 

Located near the Indian Ocean in one of the most remote wine regions in the world, Leeuwin Estate has been setting Australia’s white wine standard for decades. They planted Margaret River’s first Chardonnay in 1976, on land that Robert Mondavi recommended for its immense winemaking potential. To grasp the estate’s importance, consider that Langton’s—Australia’s most prestigious wine guide—named the Art Series one of their “Heritage Five,” making it the only white among wines like Penfold’s Grange and Henschke’s Hill of Grace.

Everything that Leeuwin does is geared toward maximizing quality. Yields are kept to a minimum so that small bunches retain tremendously concentrated fruit, and the care that Leeuwin applies to the grapes is in their motto: “Treat ‘em like eggs.” Australia’s leading critic, James Halliday, has called Leeuwin Estate, “a class act…[that works] with the precision of a Swiss watch. It stands at the very forefront of estate-based, family-owned wineries.”

In a 2018 vintage that Suckling called “one of the best and most classically styled vintages ever recorded in Margaret River,” they’ve turned out a masterpiece, one that proudly continues their tradition of world-class Chardonnay.