2020 Ossa Wines Chardonnay $90

06/27/2025

Ossa Wines is the passion project of Rod and Cecile Roberts, who began their East Coast wine odyssey in 2017 with the purchase of their 600ha Belbrook property in the Wye River Valley, northwest of Swansea. The former chair and MD of leading agri-business Webster Ltd doesn't do things by halves. The vineyard's initial plantings - in 2018 - spanned 18.5ha. Nowadays, the figure is close to 30ha.

In 2019, the couple bought a 50 percent stake in the State's largest contract winemakers, Tasmanian Vintners. As you'd expect, this strikingly packaged Chardonnay - from purchased fruit - is the handiwork of former Kiwi winemaker, Liam McElhinney.

The wine itself is equally striking. Indeed, at five years of age, it's only just starting to hit its stride. Still remarkably pale and luminous in the glass, it opens with the typical artefacts you'd expect from wild fermentation and lees-ageing in large format French oak. With a bit of air, those struck match and leesy notes begin to make way for some very attractive minerally fruit with lime/citrus and white nectarine nuances. Good Chardonnay is all about texture and this vintage of Ossa is very impressive. Gentle almond meal elements combine with fine natural acidity to give the wine a really fine and elegant definition. I'd love to see it in another five years.

Source: Trade tasting, Hobart, 25 June 2025