Cooks Lot 2025 Handpicked Chardonnay

What an excellent value wine this is from chef-turned-winemaker Duncan Cook, whose new release chardonnay and pinot noir from cool Orange in central western NSW both shine. Handpicking and sorting to select the best fruit have paid off in a big way in a white that offers a lot of drinking pleasure for a very modest price. The quality fruit is the star of the show here despite the use of more new and newish French oak barriques. This is a wine with impressive structure thanks to barrel fermentation with partial solids and lees aging, but it also offers immediate food-friendly drinkability. Add roast pork and crackling and you have a cracking weekend feast. Cooks Lot is a name worth looking at. $35. https://www.cookslot.com.au/