2021 Credaro Chardonnay 1000 Crowns Margaret River 750 ml

It may be Western Australia’s best-kept secret.

 “A high-octane example of…full-throttle power” (Wine Advocate), the spellbindingly lush 1000 Crowns Chardonnay is considered by Aussies to be a Margaret River benchmark, recently winning the top prize in one of critic James Halliday’s regional Chardonnay Challenges.

For years, it’s also been impossible to find or buy outside Australia. 

But after the success of our first Credaro wine—the first-ever allocation in the States—we went right for this critically acclaimed flagship Chardonnay. Farmed from the region’s trademark Gingin clone in coastal vineyards in Wilyabrup and Metricup, dense layers of white peach and lemon curd 

Margaret River Chardonnay enthusiasts will often point to Tom Cullity’s planting of the Vasse Felix Vineyard in 1967 as the beginning of the region’s emergence as a viticultural powerhouse. But by that point, the Credaro family had already been planting vines and making wine for over 40 years. The oldest operating winery in the southwest part of Western Australia, Credaro may not have the global name recognition of some of Margaret River’s biggest brands. But its wines—especially this bottling of Chardonnay—perennially rank among the region’s best.

Named for the sum the Credaro clan paid for their land back in 1922, the 1000 Crowns Chardonnay hails from two vineyards in the northern part of Margaret River. The area reliably delivers voluptuous concentration, and in the cool 2021 vintage, that ripeness came with added refinement.

Hand-picked in small batches on chilly mornings, the wine fermented with wild yeast and aged in French oak, both barriques and large barrels, approximately 30% new. The result is a Chardonnay stunner that we’re thrilled to share.