This year’s 100 Best Australian Wines Report features the largest number of recommended wines in the initiative’s history, with 100 headliners and a further 220+ wines mentioned in the write-ups. At 40000 words, it is my most comprehensive piece of Australia-specialist wine-writing in my life. There is no doubt in my mind that Australian fine wine has never been more memorable, age-worthy, delicious, collectable, and unique, and this year’s Report sets out to celebrate Australia’s astonishing vinous achievements in the UK.
Every wine listed here has won its place by gaining mighty scores in my notes, and the various UK distributors have confirmed they have sufficient stock to warrant a listing in this body of work."
News
Vasse Felix in Matthew Jukes '100 Best Australian Wines 2026'
We are delighted to have four Vasse Felix wines mentioned in Matthew Jukes 100 Best Australian Wines report for 2026.
This week, Matthew Jukes published in full his annual '100 Best Australian Wines' Report, following the announcement the headline list late last year.
The list comprises 100 Top Wines, with a further 220 wines are mentioned throughout the report. We thank Matthew for including both our 2023 HEYTESBURY Chardonnay and the 2022 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon in this year's list, and for his generous reviews our 2021 TOM CULLITY and 2023 Vasse Felix Chardonnay.
It was also noted that Vasse Felix has made the Top 40 Estates with the most mentions in the '100 Best Australian Wines' Report since its inception.
Congratulations to everyone included in the report and thank you again to Matthew Jukes for this recognition. Please read on for the Vasse Felix highlights.
From Matthew Jukes
2023 HEYTESBURY CHARDONNAY
"Made from 100% Gingin clone and all wild-fermented, this is a mind-blowingly complex wine with trademark Vasse girders of acid and structure, sending it soaring into the stratosphere with drop-dead gorgeous flavours. Superbly layered and assembled with great precision and presumably masses of patience, I have been enamoured by Heytesbury for aeons, and yet for the last ten or twelve years, the incremental improvements have resulted in this wine sitting among the very finest Chardonnays in the land. And what shocks most people is that this wine drinks well in its youth but seems to possess the elixir of youth, because as it ages, it retains an enviable pale hue and always delivers acute freshness and bounce! And there is more, because there used to be a chasm between everyone’s favourite diva, Heytesbury and the so-called ‘Premier’ Chardonnay, but it must be underlined just how stunning 2023 Vasse Felix Margaret River Chardonnay looks in the glass.
For my money, this wine is more forward, more glossy and perhaps less intense than its parent, but it is nearly as attractive and certainly more liquid and gluggable! There is so much volume of fruit here, and for every moment of luxury, there is an amazing twist of lime zest freshness. Tattoo this brand on your wine brain or anywhere else that takes your fancy, because the future for this epic estate is glittering, and with over 100ha of elite Chardonnay vines in the ground, Vasse is putting everything on gold!"
2022 CABERNET SAUVIGNON
"Even though it doesn’t say it on the label, this wine is known as ‘Premier Cabernet’ at Vasse Felix, and it is a star. The 2022 vintage was a cracker, resulting in an amazingly dark, much richer and more forceful hero, and this is such an opinionated wine, it blows my mind, particularly in this price band. The fruit is superbly luxurious, and there are none of the green or minty notes found in older vintages. This might seem somewhat fanciful, but I am certain this wine is the finest Premier Cabernet I have tasted, and it would not look out of place next to early releases of the next wine!
2021 Vasse Felix Tom Cullity Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon is nothing short of superb. The nose is super-elegant and akin to a serious Left Bank claret, and yet the palate is a very different proposition. The fruit used for Tom Cullity travels all of 90 metres from its vineyard to the winery. It follows that this fruit is in impeccable condition before judicious sorting, and the purple cherry and plum notes in the finished wine make it a less cassis-driven style than French versions. With a long, late ripening that followed a cooler summer, the stylish balance and symmetrical shape of this wine are terrific. It is another candidate for serious collectors’ cellars."
2021 Vasse Felix Tom Cullity Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon is nothing short of superb. The nose is super-elegant and akin to a serious Left Bank claret, and yet the palate is a very different proposition. The fruit used for Tom Cullity travels all of 90 metres from its vineyard to the winery. It follows that this fruit is in impeccable condition before judicious sorting, and the purple cherry and plum notes in the finished wine make it a less cassis-driven style than French versions. With a long, late ripening that followed a cooler summer, the stylish balance and symmetrical shape of this wine are terrific. It is another candidate for serious collectors’ cellars."
"...Tattoo this brand on your wine brain or anywhere else that takes your fancy, because the future for this epic estate is glittering, and with over 100ha of elite Chardonnay vines in the ground, Vasse is putting everything on gold!"
MATTHEW JUKES
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