Region: Beechworth, Victoria
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2025
Country: Australia
The Wine
Beechworth has become one of Australia’s benchmark regions for Chardonnay, and Domenica has the kind of site and winemaking philosophy that make the most of that reputation. The estate vineyard sits high on granite soils at around 460 metres, giving the wines freshness, mineral cut and natural tension. Peter Graham’s long tenure at Giaconda is an important part of the story too; while Domenica is very much its own project, there is a similar sense of restraint, vineyard expression and confidence in texture and solids.
The 2025 season was described as temperate, fairly cool and dry, with warm settled weather in late January and early February allowing the fruit to ripen in excellent condition. The Chardonnay was handpicked over ten days, by block and clone, in mid-February. Fruit was crushed, pressed and chilled in stainless steel overnight before fermentation and élevage. Retail release notes describe a wine with white peach, citrus, pear and lime fruit, light spice notes, a very fine line of oak and a more refined, approachable shape than some earlier years, while still carrying the precision and purity expected from the estate.
This feels very much like modern Beechworth Chardonnay: flavourful but controlled, with stone fruit and citrus wrapped around mineral drive, quiet oak handling and a long, soft but concentrated finish. There is generosity here, but not excess. The wine’s energy is what really matters, and the granite soils seem to bring that lovely tension that keeps everything in line.
Cellared Says
Domenica Chardonnay always sits in a style I find very easy to get behind — precise, composed and unforced. It’s not trying to wow you with solids, oak or reduction. Instead, it leans on site, fruit quality and shape. That’s usually the right answer. In 2025 it sounds especially complete: ripe enough to be inviting, but still taut and mineral. Beechworth Chardonnay continues to be one of Australia’s great fine wine categories, and this is exactly the kind of bottle that shows why. Hide it away for a year or two and it’ll thank you.
Wine Reviews
Yet to be reviewed.
Region: Beechworth, Victoria
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2025
Country: Australia
The Wine
Beechworth has become one of Australia’s benchmark regions for Chardonnay, and Domenica has the kind of site and winemaking philosophy that make the most of that reputation. The estate vineyard sits high on granite soils at around 460 metres, giving the wines freshness, mineral cut and natural tension. Peter Graham’s long tenure at Giaconda is an important part of the story too; while Domenica is very much its own project, there is a similar sense of restraint, vineyard expression and confidence in texture and solids.
The 2025 season was described as temperate, fairly cool and dry, with warm settled weather in late January and early February allowing the fruit to ripen in excellent condition. The Chardonnay was handpicked over ten days, by block and clone, in mid-February. Fruit was crushed, pressed and chilled in stainless steel overnight before fermentation and élevage. Retail release notes describe a wine with white peach, citrus, pear and lime fruit, light spice notes, a very fine line of oak and a more refined, approachable shape than some earlier years, while still carrying the precision and purity expected from the estate.
This feels very much like modern Beechworth Chardonnay: flavourful but controlled, with stone fruit and citrus wrapped around mineral drive, quiet oak handling and a long, soft but concentrated finish. There is generosity here, but not excess. The wine’s energy is what really matters, and the granite soils seem to bring that lovely tension that keeps everything in line.
Cellared Says
Domenica Chardonnay always sits in a style I find very easy to get behind — precise, composed and unforced. It’s not trying to wow you with solids, oak or reduction. Instead, it leans on site, fruit quality and shape. That’s usually the right answer. In 2025 it sounds especially complete: ripe enough to be inviting, but still taut and mineral. Beechworth Chardonnay continues to be one of Australia’s great fine wine categories, and this is exactly the kind of bottle that shows why. Hide it away for a year or two and it’ll thank you.
Wine Reviews
Yet to be reviewed.
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