On opening, the 2022 Chardonnay was flinty and spicy and layered with loads of funk and curry leaf. Good! After this has had some time to settle in the glass, the fruit emerges and speaks of roasted pineapple, pine nuts, yellow peach, apple skins and sandalwood. In the mouth, the acid is tight as a drum, despite the fruit being very open weave and available. 2022 was a hot year in Western Australia, the summer was peppered with extended heat spikes (up in Perth, we had a spell of 13 days over 40 degrees centigrade, followed by two shorter, but no less fierce, stints under the sun) and a distinct lack of rain. The wines are powerfully fruited and soft of acid (not unlike the Chardonnays of the 2014 vintage in this region), although the acidity here is tangy. At 12.4% alcohol, the assumption is that the fruit was picked on the earlier side in order to preserve freshness and acidic structure. The effect is a wine of both energy and girth. Sealed under screw cap.

Routinely good, this is the lighter, finer version of the Suckfizzle and Luminosa and offers the same telltale scintillating acidity as the others. The 2021 Chardonnay has notes of white peach and nectarine, with layers of apple, grapefruit and spice.

Still youthfully fresh and tight, the 2018 Chardonnay boasts scents of green peaches and fresh tangerines. The oak is less obvious than in the 2017 in this medium to full-bodied effort. It's slightly broader and more generous than the previous vintage but still finishes long, zippy and fresh, with lingering lime-like flavors.

A blend of fruit from five vineyards—all in the southern portion of Margaret River—the 2017 Chardonnay features classic scents of toasted hazelnuts and white peaches. It's medium-bodied and crisp, with bright, lime-like acids and a long, wet-stone finish.

Grilled peach and pineapple notes mark the nose of the Stella Bella Wines 2016 Chardonnay. It's an exuberant, medium-bodied wine, filled with ripe fruit flavors and judicious oak. It hits that balanced, fleshy middle ground between lean and flabby, delivering a mouthful of tropical fruit buttressed by subtle vanilla accents and a citrusy finish.