2024 Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay

Established in 1982 by Rick Kinzbrunner after experience in Napa, Bordeaux, and the King Valley, Giaconda has become one of Australia's most celebrated boutique estates. Situated on high-altitude granitic soils, the 4-hectare vineyard is certified organic. Now managed with Rick's son Nathan, Giaconda are famous for excellent winemaking, while ageing in their granite cave deliver wines of extraordinary purity, complexity, and finesse.

Other Reviews...
The 2024 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay leads with walnuts and curry leaf, white pepper and wet chalk, pineapple, almond meal and pink grapefruit. It is both fresh and savory, and a thrust of powerful fruit and reduction in concert soar across the palate. The fruit flavors—nutty and citrus-laden, thanks to the P58 Chardonnay clone grown here on the gravel clay soils of the Victorian Alp foothills—linger long through the finish and allow the dissection of flavor, impact and texture to occur over time. This is a remarkable wine, one of incisive focus and attractive width of texture. It has few peers in its execution of style. This vintage is decidedly savory; its aperture of focus zeroed right in on the tension between the acidity, the reduction, the intensely saturated fruit and the phenolic structure. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
In terms of comparison of this 2024 expression to previous vintages, the 2023 was a quiet, floral wine that has, since its release, grown on me and demands not to be overlooked. This 2024 is a bigger, more powerful wine than the 2023. The 2024 is tighter and more structural than the opulent 2022, which showed tremendous width on release and which only seems to be growing in bottle. The 2021 is a standalone wine in terms of bringing all of these elements together in an almost magical way; although having seen that vintage several times over the past few months, it should be, in my opinion, left alone for a few years before coming around to it again. Beyond that, there appears no limit to its life. I'd say this savory 2024 rendition of Giaconda Chardonnay tucks in just behind the 2021 for me in terms of pleasure, structure, length and power. I look forward to watching it further evolve over the coming week.
I was standing in the Giaconda vineyard in January 2024, and despite some intense rain around Central Victoria in the days leading up to my visit, the vineyard (further north) looked superb. It is elevated, well drained and well managed; the crop load looked healthy; and the condition of the berries was excellent. I thought at that time that the 2024 wine would be something to behold. That has played out to be correct. Drink 2026-2044.
99 points
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2024 Chardonnay Estate Vineyard is a picture of poise and power. Smoky, flinty elements lead from the front, well supported by rich aromas of musky peach, oat bran and just-ripe nectarine. All is enhanced by a thick, velvety blanket of French oak. The 2024 delivers brilliant complexity amongst a powerhouse of flavour, laced with fine layers of cream and buttered popcorn and underpinned by piercing acidity. What stands out most of all is the finish: intense, precise, dignified and sustained, holding its shape and tension for what seems like an eternity. A classic vintage with a long life ahead. Drink 2032-2048.
99 points
Angus Hughson - Vinous

Well well, this is a more savoury and saline expression of Giaconda Chardonnay, and I like that very much. I’m thinking lime, green mango, nectarine, salted almond and pastry dough, a mint and white flower perfume, preserved lemon, and a relatively discreet amount of struck match. It’s juicy, leaning more towards ripe citrus in flavour, again that saline persuasion, and the spiced preserved lemon character is absolutely a theme here, right down to its pulpy texture, which is also gently chalky. Acidity is discreet and fresh, just enough to drive it along, though it’s not abrasive, and the finish is savoury and very long, lemon rind and green olive in the aftertaste, with a gentle pucker of grip to close. This is a calm and composed iteration of this wine, and it feels all just so. Outstanding. Drink 2027-2038+.
98 points
Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

Classic styling meets Beechworth top-shelf chardonnay fruit. Beyond the immediate complexity on show, there is the detail; the '24 moves like a Swiss watch, intricate and exact. Grilled hazelnuts, stone fruits, Meyer lemon, grapefruit pith, melon, smokey spice and clotted cream aromas. There is an undoubted richness, a deep seam of flavour here that ranges long, underscored by firm phenolics and a bright acidity that lifts. Flexes some impressive chardonnay richness while delivering a fine-textured, persistent beauty of a wine. If there is a key to opening Giaconda chardonnay, it is to wait; it is invariably a slow reveal. And don't over chill. Drink 2026-2040.
98 points
Jeni Port - James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion

This doesn’t follow familiar Australian Chardonnay fashion, coming on strong with a confident display of robust, intense flavours that demand close attention. It leads with a strident, assertive nose of struck flint over rich lemon balm, a squeeze of pink grapefruit and just-ripe peach. It enters the mouth with proud assurance – a vivid palette of luscious, boldly-drawn colours riding atop powerful broad shoulders. A touch of malolactic development adds lovely roundness to the middle palate, but without adding excess weight. This has big body without mimicking Burgundy, its long flavours carried on king tide of firm acid that goes on, and on, and on. Drink 2026-2045.
97 points
David Sly - Decanter