98 points

Ray Jordan, West Australian

It's as if Vase Felix has been working towards this release over years. There is power and finesse and subtle expression. Lemony with cereal notes and roasted cashew. The palate holds it line to a long finish. Naturally fermented with nine months in new and old oak.

98 points

Tyson Stelzer's Top Ten Australian Wines 2019

If the greatest wines of all prove their merit by virtue of rock-solid consistency from season to season, Heytesbury has attained the pinnacle of Australian chardonnay. The pinpoint accuracy of 2018 is breathtaking, with purity and focus that belie its deep, rising, swirling concentration and disarming line and length. Grand cru by every definition.

98 points (Best of the Best by Variety)

Jane Faulkner - 2021 Halliday Wine Companion

Heytesbury has always been a yin and yang wine. It has power, structure and depth yet can appear reticent in its youth. The fruit is fabulous. Wafts of lemon balm, ginger cream and spicy oak too but it is all about the palate - linear, long, super fine, a tight acid line, it has a crushed rock character with moreish flinty sulphides - the list goes on. Everything in sync. It’s one heck of a classy chardonnay.

94 points

Joe Czerwinski, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The medium to full-bodied 2018 Heytesbury Chardonnay is rich and dense, intensely concentrated and packed with intricate dried-spice nuances. Notes of crushed stone set the stage, while melon and white peach notes constitute the fruity core, developing taut citrus nuances on the long, refreshing finish.

96 points

Mike Bennie, WBM

A brilliant wine of intensity and concentration yet with sleek, shapely lines. This dials in the sea spray, flint and mineral characters over judicious, soft nougat oak, but the bolshy green apple and stone fruits of Chardonnay are there too. All of this is seamlessly integrated, becoming a symphonic expression of the variety so easily see as superb. A stunning wine here.

Classic Margaret River Chardonnay

Peter Bourne - Qantas Magazine

With lavish aromas of pineapple, bisocotti and a hint of gunsmoke, this is a classic Margaret River chardonnay. The mouth fills with stonefruit and guava flavours, plus acidity and smooth, savoury oak.

97 points

James Suckling Top 100 Wines of Australia

Deeply complex and so richly fruited, this is all wrapped in very tautly in a flavor-soaked and seamless chardonnay. Aromas of wet stones, yellow grapefruit, flint, green lemons, fresh oak and white peaches are all tightly arrayed. The palate has mouthwatering punch and crispness. Very assertive and driving with a sleek overall feel, but packed with powerful, pristine white-peach, lemon, apricot and green-mango flavors. So long. This is a modern benchmark. #44 of Top 100

96 Points

Wine Enthusiast - Advanced Buying Guide

One of the most highly regarded Chardonnays in Australia, the 2018 Heytesbury shines. The reductive, flinty style typical to this wine is still there but is more reigned in these days: roasted hazelnuts layered with delicate citrus and stone fruit. The palate is beautifully complex and highly textural, nutty, mineral nuances flowing through to a lengthy finish. Elegant yet powerful, drinking gorgeously now but with the ability to age for several decades.”

The Chardonnay Masters-Asia Gold Medal

The Drinks Masters-Alice Liang

Meanwhile, moving up to the price bracket between HK$301-500, Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2018 was another high performer. Anty Fung, a wine specialist and manager of Hip Cellar, said, "the wine shows great finesse. It has good tension, mineral structure and a long finish."

96 points

Huon Hooke - The Real Review

Light, bright yellow colour with an incredibly powerful bouquet of grapefruit, lemon and spicy oak, all mixed up into a highly aromatic package. The palate is tremendously intense and searingly driven, the finish extended and dramatic. A very smart wine indeed. It's starting to drink very well but will be even better in a year or two. (Aged for 9 months in 42% new barriques, the rest 1 to 3 years old.)

90 Points

Wine Spectator

Spicy, featuring tangy lemon curd, apricot and poached pear flavors, showing threads of nutmeg, peppery

Gold Medal

2020 Decanter World Wine Awards

Beautifully opulent with hints of flinty smoke, lemon oil, caramel and apricot on the nose, stone fruit, lemon sherbert and a red apple acidity on the palate.

Star Buy

Rose Murray Brown - Masterclass

Smoky nose, layers of complexity with Wilcox’s characteristic al dente texture, fine acid line and tension. Superb Chardonnay.

Brilliant Follow on from 2017

The Wine Dectective - Sarah Ahmed

Finely drawn, long and beautifully composed, with insinuating mineral acidity and a savouriness which is not in the least overblown. Seamless, very classy.

Brilliant Follow on from 2017

The Wine Dectective - Sarah Ahmed

Finely drawn, long and beautifully composed, with insinuating mineral acidity and a savouriness which is not in the least overblown. Seamless, very classy.