Are these the best Chardonnays in Australia?

The 2011 Seppelt Drumborg Chardonnay was today named the best chardonnay in Australia in the 2013 James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge.

Organised by Wine Yarra Valley to showcase Australian Chardonnay, the winning wine was selected from more than 530 entries (an increase in more than 100 over last year’s inaugural competition).

Judging took place in Victoria’s Yarra Valley on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 September. Chairman of Judges Ben Edwards was joined by the experienced panel of: P.J. Charteris, Peter Dawson, Peter Dredge, David Brookes, Caroline Mooney, Cliff Royle, Marcus Satchell, Dan Sims and Corrina Wright.

Exhibits came from almost 300 wineries representing 53 of the country’s wine regions and were judged by three panels of three judges with two supporting associate judges and a panel chair, who blind tasted wines grouped by region or zone.

The winning Seppelt Drumborg Chardonnay is sourced exclusively from the Drumborg Vineyard situated in the cool Grampians country, the Henty hinterland. The vineyard was planted in 1964 to provide Seppelt with cool climate fruit for premium quality wines and remains one of the most southern vineyards in mainland Australia. With a mean January Temperature of 17.5 degrees, Henty is fast developing a reputation as one of Australia’s leading cool climate regions.

Below is the list of wines from each region where the highest score was 94 points or more.