Always one of Australia's finest Chardonnays, the 2015 Kevin John Chardonnay doesn't disappoint. Despite being completely barrel-fermented and aged in 73% new French oak, the toast element is minimal, the wood serving mainly to enhance the medium-bodied wine's textural qualities and amplify the fruit. Refined notes of white peaches and citrus weave in and out, starting quietly but growing in elegant intensity as the wine progresses across the palate, finishing dry, silky and savory on the nearly endless finish.

Shimmering straw-gold. Highly perfumed, mineral- and spice-accented aromas of fresh pear, peach nectar, vanilla, iodine and jasmine; a smoky nuance builds in the glass. Sappy, seamless and energetic on the palate, offering intense orchard and pit fruit flavors braced by dusty mineral and orange pith flourishes. Clings impressively on the mineral-driven finish, which leaves toasty lees, vanilla and ripe citrus fruit notes behind. This wine saw 75% new French oak. -- Josh Raynolds

This wine’s golden color, the broad scents of toasted lees and the golden-raisin flavors all imply a superripe wine. Instead, that full-bodied richness comes across as generosity, the flavors carefully keyed so that, with time, the tension and freshness of the wine come to the fore, transforming what, on the surface, appeared to be late-season ripeness to a cool, crisp yellow-apple flavor of autumn. Vanya Cullen worked with her mother, Diana, to convert the family’s vineyards to organic viticulture in 1998; she then gained biodynamic certification in 2004. The care she shows in growing and making this wine comes through in its active presence in the glass. Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA