Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay 2025
The Wine
Wines due in store 3rd October 2026
Available for pre-purchase now!
97 Pts Campbell Mattinson 'This edition of Tolpuddle Chardonnay is a classic in the making. It has three key features: unforced complexity, an impression of effortlessness, and outstanding length. It tastes of iron, grilled peach, lemon, tonic water and nougat, though there’s an underpinning of umami and a subtle flintiness in play too. It’s all quite exquisite. It’s all quite fabulous.'
97 Pts Dave Brooks, Hallidays Wine Companion 'Tight and intricately detailed, as always, with bright citrus, peach and white nectarine fruits overseen by a mist of flint and struck-march complexity. Hints of grilled hazelnuts, almond butter, vanillin oak, clover blossom, crushed riverstone, crème fraîche, ozone, oatmeal and sea spray. Lightly textural, with a beautiful taut mineral line, the flavours precise and drawn out along its length. This has a tight mineral cadence, a touch of apple-skin pithiness, preserved lemon, nougat and a pristine, sustained finish with a flair of umami. This is a producer and a site that is in the finest of form. No wonder the French are nervous - once again, world-class Australian chardonnay.'
96 Pts Jeni Port, Wine Pilot 'The Tolpuddle Vineyard, south of Hobart, has a long history dating back to 1988. In 2011, under new owners Michael Hill-Smith and Martin Shaw, it has taken a major step towards putting Tasmanian Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on the world stage. A good ’25 vintage, dry with above average temperatures, has produced a deeply complex young Chardonnay. Arrives in richly detailed aromas in yellow peach, nectarine, hints of guava, lemon curd with a cashew-rich nuttiness. A tightly-coiled and thrilling wine, sunny and bright and more-ish. The palate is well composed, integrated and seamless, in whole sways of citrus, stone fruits joined by almond meal, biscuit, pineapple skin with a finely nuanced ribbon of vanillin oak. There is much more to build upon as it starts its journey. Give it time.'
The Details
Variety - Chardonnay
Country - Australia
Region - Tasmania
Sub Region - Coal River Valley
Extra - Screwcap
Year - 2025
Volume - 750mls
About the Wine Maker 
Back in 2011, Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith AM MW, the duo behind Shaw + Smith in the Adelaide Hills, took a trip to Tasmania expecting nothing more than a pleasant lunch. Along the way, they tasted plenty of wines, but the real gems came from Tolpuddle Vineyard, near Richmond, founded in 1988. The moment they stepped through its gates, they were smitten, and soon it became theirs. These days, Tolpuddle releases its wines each year via a waitlist. Set in south-east Tasmania’s Coal River Valley, just outside the historic village of Richmond and about 20 minutes from Hobart, the vineyard is named for the Tolpuddle Martyrs — British farm workers sent to Australia in the 1830s for trying to start a union. Spanning 20 hectares (50 acres), it’s dedicated entirely to crafting top-notch Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
