2024 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay

Established in 1967 by regional pioneer Dr Tom Cullity, Vasse Felix is Margaret River's founding wine estate. The winery has three distinct and exceptional sites including the Home vineyard in Wilyabrup, the Gnarawary vineyard in Wallcliffe and the Adams Road vineyard in Carbunup.

Heytesbury is a selection of the most striking barrels and unique vineyard blocks from the vintage at Vasse Felix. Handpicked fruit is whole bunch pressed direct to barrel for wild fermentation and 15 months of maturation on lees, with regular stirring to promote the completion of malolactic fermentation.

Other Reviews...
An extraordinary wine of tension, energy and power. It’s the result of the earliest vintage on record at Vasse Felix, with the fruit being picked on 17 January. It’s a wine of power and generosity, yet the subtle secondary characters in here really do strike a complex note. It’s made predominantly from the Gingin clone and shows generosity, but typically lively acidity is there, and that wild fermentation adds richness and density. The aromas are a mix of brioche, subtle lemon curd, and cashew. But then there’s a bright minerality. The palate is almost lavish, yet it’s held tightly with that fine linear precision and crisp acidity. These wines have certainly become slightly more generous in recent years and allow the full expression of the Gingin clone from these distinct sites. It’s another outstanding wine. Dare I say it, but this could be the finest Heytesbury yet.
99 points
Ray Jordan

It stings the nostrils, slaps you into gear, and brings joy to the souls of Chardonnay lovers. What an incredible wine, from what was not your average vintage in Wadandi Country. Spiced lime sorbet, mandarin peel and a tangerine dream. In the mouth, the acid is pithy, driving through the centre with power and incisive focus. Everything is dialled up, yet detailed, with nothing outshining the other. The fruit is uber dense, showing fresh, preserved, salted and peak-season notes of grapefruit, candied mandarin and scraped vanilla bean, with a touch of curry leaf. From the earliest harvest on record, it may not live as long as other vintages, but it feels the most complete on release. Plenty of stuffing, palate-saturating tension, grip and drive, with salty acid layering the experience. Drink without food to start, make sure to have your most gossipy friend with you, then order another bottle and get incredibly indiscreet about things you probably shouldn’t. Drink 2026-2038.
98 points
Cyndal Petty - Wine Pilot

The 2024 Heytesbury Chardonnay leads with toasted cashews and white peach, pink grapefruit and preserved lemon rind, all of it woven together by saline acidity. There's pressed linen, white flowers and wax, too. The palate is textural and shapely (something of a house style at Vasse Felix), and the length through the finish is long. While this may not have the precision and focus of the 2023 Heytesbury, it has personality, texture, line and power, and I love it for all of those attributes. What a superstar wine. It was fermented 100% in French oak, with 85% of the volume in barrique and the balance in puncheon. The total percentage of new oak was 53%, and the wine was matured for 10 months, followed by six months post-blending in tank. It will be released globally on May 1, 2026. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink 2026-2036.
The Heytesbury Chardonnay release is emphatically one of my favorite Chardonnay releases (globally) each year. My criticism of it—I've been open about this to the abundantly talented winemaker, Virginia Willcock—is that this wine is released too early. Despite the release being pushed back six months or so, I still find myself drinking older bottles and being absolutely and totally blown away by them. On release, I merely love them. 2024 in Margaret River was a challenging year. It was record-breakingly hot and dry, although it bears noting that most of the vineyards in Margaret River are planted on their own roots—and of those, most were planted last century, so the vines do have a certain amount of inbuilt resilience to above-ground weather events. This wine, it also bears noting, is brilliant every single vintage. The wines are reflective of the year and the sites, but more than that, they speak of the purity, drive and power inherent in Margaret River Chardonnay. They are an asset to Australian wine.
97 points
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The balance of fruit and tension is fantastic, with aromas of lemon confit, oatmeal, white mushrooms, crushed stones, jasmine, green melon and citrus blossoms. The palate is mid-weighted with a tightly woven texture, fine-boned acidity and a lovely phenolic grip intertwining oak and fruit. It’s generous, yet retains all the tension and salinity typical of Margaret River. Don’t be misled by the fruit concentration. There’s still freshness and minerality throughout. Excellent. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
97 points
Ryan Montgomery - JamesSuckling.com

The Heytesbury DNA is loud and clear. It's driven by pristine fruit flavours – all grapefruit and lemon – powered by moreish, savoury, complex flavours of gunflint, match-strike sulphides, superbly integrated oak and mouth-watering acidity. It’s just one of the great chardonnays. Simple as that really. Drink 2026-2036.
97 points
Jane Faulkner - James Halliday's Wine Companion

The winemaking is good. The wine growing is good. And the sites are outstanding. The season might challenge, but the quality doesn’t waver.
This is, without doubt, an outstanding release of Heytesbury Chardonnay. The intensity of fruit flavour is as exquisite as it is impressive; the texture itself has a presence to it; the flintiness sits within the fruit as much as it rises above it. It’s a parade of grapefruit, white peach, oatmeal and mineral-like flavour, with smoked hay and cedar-cream characters as modest and integrated assistants. Quality-wise, all over, it’s the bomb. The drama of the finish – and its persistence – is the ultimate confirmation. Drink 2027-2034.
96 points
Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front