The fruit for this 2021 SRS Wallcliffe Chardonnay comes from the Wallcliffe area of Margaret River. Just west and slightly south of town, this area is my favorite in the region for Chardonnay, a lesson I learned while tasting through 80 masked barrel samples of the 2022 vintage. The fruit from this area is powerfully concentrated, suffused with intense, juicy acidity and resplendent with a flow and power that is difficult (read, not impossible) to match elsewhere. The nose here leads with almond meal, crushed/salted cashews, white peach, green apple skins, hints of dried lavender/bergamot, green tea/matcha, pink grapefruit, preserved citrus and graphite. This is a superb Chardonnay, possessed of searing acidity now, but this ameliorates into the fruit after a couple of years in bottle and infuses the wine with vitality, excitement and line. Fair warning, I laughed out loud when I put this wine in my mouth for the vibratory, thrumming acidity, but it is matched by equally concentrated fruit, so have no fear. It matured for 10 months in large-format French oak (40% new). 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.