I am about to admit what I have always avoided saying: “Chardonnay is my favourite grape variety”.
Chardonnay is the Queen of grape varieties. It is elevated to its throne by an assertive, intense, yet complex varietal fruit expression and among all varieties, its unique fruit sweetness and texture. I discovered and embraced Chardonnay in California in the early 1970’s, before there were significant plantings of the variety in Australia. Californian Chardonnay altered my life irrevocably.
I returned to Australia to find the most suitable, cool, high-rainfall terroir for Chardonnay and, in 1978, discovered the Piccadilly Valley and the Tiers Vineyard site. The Tiers site is Burgundy cool with a 1.2 metre annual rainfall. Its 1.6-billion-year-old underlying geology has weathered to a beautiful deep red clay-loam over a cracking clay, the perfect substrate for Chardonnay roots.
From the first grapes harvested in 1984, to the first single vineyard Tiers Chardonnay in 1996, to the 2026 harvest just completed, Tiers fruit on the vine looks and tastes different to all other grapes. The berries are translucent lime green, almost luminous, tasting of pears and nectarine with a salivating acid.
And so, the Tiers Chardonnay wines truly reflect the native varietal and Tiers terroir characters of the grapes.
Fermented in young French oak barriques, Tiers Chardonnay is nuanced by the enhancing brioche character of the chosen yeast and the subtle cedar and spice of the cold Vosges Mountain oak barriques. With its distinguished aroma, flavour and texture, The Tiers Vineyard is the heart of the Piccadilly Valley, unique amongst the spectrum of great Chardonnays.
I have learned over this 48-year journey that Tiers and I have travelled together to preserve its native fruit personality at all costs, to make the wine as simply as possible, and to allow each vintage expression to add nuance to the intense varietal and terroir expression of Tiers Chardonnay, to “trust the vineyard”.
Tiers is special among Piccadilly Valley Chardonnays, and Piccadilly Valley Chardonnays are uniquely special among Australian and global fine Chardonnays. Great Chardonnay is, for me, the greatest wine of all. I am very fortunate to have been mesmerised by the variety and to have discovered a truly unique home for it at The Tiers Vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley. It has only taken 48 years to prove.
