Bannockburn Vineyards was established by Stuart Reginald Hooper in 1974 and has been at the vanguard of the Australian fine wine story ever since. Located in the Moorabool Valley sub-region, 25 kilometres northwest of Geelong, the estate comprises 26 vineyard blocks rooted in one of Victoria's most distinctive low-fertility terroirs: volcanic surface debris and ancient seabeds running to richer, darker soils over predominantly limestone bedrock. All of Bannockburn's close-planted vineyards are now certified organic, tended by viticulturist Lucas Grigsby, who has worked the site for over 30 years using organic composting, straw mulching and inter-row cover crops in place of herbicide sprays.

Winemaker Matt Holmes has overseen a careful and deliberate evolution since taking the helm, introducing earlier bottling and a winery approach built on wild yeast ferments, minimal additions and low intervention. With Chardonnay, Holmes steers a racier, more mouth-watering course, with less emphasis on lees and oak and more on vibrant acidity and freshness.

Sourced from estate vineyards spanning plantings from 1976 to 2016, including Olive Tree Hill, Winery Block, Stuart Block, Grigsby and Kelly Lane, with clonal material P58, Bernard 76, 95 and 96. Handpicked fruit was whole-bunch pressed, wild fermented in French hogsheads and puncheons (25% new oak), with 70% malolactic fermentation and 10 months of lees maturation without stirring. The 2025 vintage, Bannockburn's earliest harvest on record, delivered wines of generosity, clarity and precision. Ripe stone fruit, grapefruit and pear, carried by bright acidity to a long, composed finish of tension and purity.