Recommended Retail Price: $35.00
Region: Margaret River
Suggested Drinking: 2020 – 2030
Cellaring to: 2030
Overview
Family owned, Leeuwin Estate, one of the five founding wineries of the now famous Margaret River district of Western Australia, is under the direction of two generations who work with a team of highly skilled winemakers to consistently produce wines ranking alongside the world’s finest. In 1972, legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Robert Mondavi, identified the future site of the Leeuwin vineyard as being ideal for the production of premium wine and provided early mentorship to Denis and Tricia Horgan in the transformation of their cattle farm into Leeuwin Estate. Enjoying its first commercial vintage in 1979, Leeuwin was thrust into the international spotlight when Decanter Magazine gave its highest recommendation to the 1981 “Art Series” Chardonnay. The international accolades have continued and Leeuwin now exports to 30 markets.
Expert Reviews
Matthew Dukes Matthew Dukes ‘ 100 Best Australian Wines 2019/20’
This is one of the grandest and most well-appointed Prelude Chardonnays I have ever tasted. This label has gone from being the ‘second’ wine of the great Art Series Chardonnay to be a stand-alone, hero Margaret River Chardonnay in its own right. Of course, this is a little lighter and more forward-drinking than its partner wine, but if Art Series was not listed on a wine list I would not blink in ordering this magnificent Prelude in its place.
James Halliday Wine Companion
Leeuwin Estate has the game sewn up with this entry point wine. It’s so precise, so balanced, so pure. The distinction between fruit and oak is impossible to guage, the length magical.
Score: 96/100
Campbell Mattinson The Wine Front
Invariable a good wine to drink. This is as clean, fresh and straightforward as I can recall a Prelude Chardonnay to be. It’s juice with pear and run-rupened peaches and at every turn it drips with flavour. There’s a rub of creamy/cedary oak, and a welcome one, but fruit it is the main message here. Like it.