The S.R.H. Chardonnay comes off the oldest Chardonnay vines in the Olive Tree Hill Vineyard and is named in recognition of Bannockburn’s founder, Stuart Reginald Hooper. The vines are dry grown, the ferment is with only wild yeast, and the wine always spends two years in barrel (1/3rd new). S.R.H is the definition of refined power. Always restrained, especially when young, it is none the less deep and intense. The 2006 is a stunning example of this wine. It is still very youthful with a lifted nose of citrus and white peach and also plenty of almond meal and spice. The palate is somehow both powerful and tightly wound:  long, lean and coiled with plenty of power driving right through the wine. A beautiful Chardonnay that is damn delicious now yet will clearly benefit from time in the cellar.

Bright green-straw; marries layered complexity with finesse; a potentially great Chardonnay playing dice with the cork gods; the points are a compromise- buy the wine if you are happy to run the gauntlet. 95 points, James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2011

There are so many things I like about this wine. It doesn’t have any alcohol heat, always a good start with Australian chardonnay. It doesn’t have any excess oak, ditto. It has long tangy length, but it is not lean – it has a noticeable richness through the mid-palate. It tastes of nectarine and steel, lemon and toast. Oak, fruit, acid – all work in tandem, and all build towards the finish. Cork permitting, it’s a chardonnay that will live for quite some time. 94+ Points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front