Southern Light Vineyards Seven Slopes of Rising Chardonnay 2024

The team behind those wonderful Ghostgum wines from the Mornington Peninsula have now released a series of single vineyard wines from the Yarra Valley from the 2024 vintage. They are seriously impressive and definitely worth your attention. This cracking Chardonnay came from two blocks in the Seven Slopes of Rising Vineyard in the Yarra, different clones and different aspects. Both batches were kept separate. The grapes were whole bunch pressed to French oak barrels, some 300-litres and some 500-litres, with 35% of them new. Wild yeast fermentation was followed by a year maturing on lees. This, like all wines in the range, was bottled under an agglomerate cork. Deep lemon in colour, this is beautifully structured. We have notes of melons, grilled cashews, peaches, ginger, nectarines, stone fruits and florals. Exquisitely balanced, it really does have such a stunning nose and this continues on the palate. There are notes of spicy/cinnamon oak evident. A wine which dances on the palate and has extraordinary length, it runs the tightrope of power and elegance. A line of fine acidity helps tie things together. Enjoy this over the next eight years. Points: 96/100

Wine Pilot ∙ 7th Jul 2026

This is from the Yarra Valley in what was a cool and wet year resulting in wines that are generally finer and more linear than some previous vintages. In the making, the batches of Bernard and I-10V5 clones were kept separate until being pulled together for final blending. Whole bunch pressing to French oak and a mix of hogsheads and puncheons with about thirty-five percent new. It was wild yeast fermented and just a small amount of malolactic fermentation, presumably to bring some texture into this finer vintage. It’s a lovely powdery, talcy aromatic with a sort of lemon pith edge to it. The palate is precise and linear, but with a crisp, stony, pebbly feel to it that adds to its complexity and structural appeal. An attractive wine. Points: 95/100

Wine Pilot ∙ 11th Apr 2026

White peach, lemon oil, aniseed/mint, cashew, a whisper of struck match, crystallised ginger and cedar oak. It’s juicy in citrus flavour and tang, quite flinty and tight, nutty and saline, with a green mango finish of excellent length and dry grip. It’s perhaps a little biscuitty in oak at present, but has energy and verve to counter. Very good. Points: 94/100

The Wine Front ∙ 2nd Apr 2026

From one clever winemaker to another. Anthony Fikkers’ growing range of wines under the Rising/Southern Light Vineyards brands is typically impressive, and especially the Chardonnay releases. This new release sees Fikkers cherry-pick fruit from the Rising fruit sources in the Yarra Valley, tapping into grapes from two blocks at Nilumbuk. Great packaging and ultra-classy wine. It’s high-toned and filigreed with lemon wax, a little aftershave, quite a stamp of fancy oak (35% new), some leesy/solid funk with a little orange blossom, then a concentrated palate that shows some vanilla oak and really grapefruit acid drive, with elegance and complexity. The oak prominence is the only thing holding this back from true superstardom (which just means it needs time). 94+ Points: 94/100

Australian Wine & Drinks Review ∙ 25th Mar 2026