2024 Rombauer Carneros Chardonnay

Melbourne-raised Senior Director of Winemaking Richie Allen first began making this wine in 2004. ‘This is what we’re known for – this is what we do best,’ says Allen, who has been with the winery since that same year. The 2024 vintage, tasted in mid-December 2024, is bright, tightly coiled, and tense at present, but Richie assures me that within a few months it will evolve into the Rombauer style we all know and love. That’s because this is a low-sulphite, minimally handled wine: no sulphur is added until a small dose for stabilisation at bottling. As a result, the wine tends to stay wound up for the first six months, before unfurling into the richer, more tropical profile with toasty oak that defines the house style. Ripe fruit comes through clearly, with yellow stone fruit, Meyer lemon citrus, mango, and a creamy mid-palate accented by spice and vanilla from the oak. Bright acidity keeps everything lifted, and during my tasting the wine continued to build in the glass, gaining richness and creaminess with air. The fruit for this Chardonnay comes from Napa and Sonoma Carneros. It is barrel-fermented and aged for nine months in a mix of American and French oak, one-third of which is new. (JC)