While it's not surprising to see chardonnay dominate this list of the 20 best Australian white wines over $40, that varieties such as gewürztraminer and fiano also feature is testament to the breadth and diversity of Australia's wine landscape.
The 20 great Australian white wines you'll find below have been chosen by the Halliday Tasting Team for the 2025 Halliday Top 100.
2023 A. Rodda Wines Baxendale Vineyard Whitlands Chardonnay, King Valley
A high-class chardonnay from a high altitude vineyard that specialises in scintillating chardonnays of great purity. Brimming in alpine florals, white flowers, lemon sorbet and white peach bright scents. Embraces a brisk, easy energy across the palate, pulsing in citrus, stone fruits, almond skin and nougat amid a light, evolving complexity. It's early days, but that brisk acidity is in place with some serious ageing in mind. – Jeni Port
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2019 Brokenwood ILR Reserve Semillon, Hunter Valley
This iconic wine delivers power, length and intensity, with a weighty, expansive palate and remarkable complexity that set it apart. The aroma is so seamless that it is difficult to dissect, but a closer look reveals alluring hints of charred citrus, lemon butter, meringue and flint. The palate is deeply satisfying and, though it has gained extra dimensions, softness and layers with age, it retains an inherent freshness and youthful beauty. – Toni Paterson MW
98 points | $120 | Screw cap | 11.5% alc. | Drink to 2031 | Brokenwood profile | Winery website | @brokenwoodwines
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2023 Canobolas Wines Chardonnay, Orange
Sourced from deep red ferrosol soils. Some wines require time and the peace and serenity of place to hear their voice. This is such a wine. It is not shouting for attention, instead, it's telling an age-old story of the trickling river streams, deep iron oxide soils and the under-vine make-up of a special place. Fresh linen, lotus flower and grapefruit pulp. An earthy celeriac and artichoke pull towards the crystalline salinity of quartz and scallop shell. Full mlf has tamed its natural quivering acidity and allowed for a horchata creaminess. A wine that might be passed by but, for those that revere wines of earthly spirit and finesse, this is utterly glorious. – Shanteh Wale
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2024 Coriole Rubato Reserve Fiano, McLaren Vale
A deeply fruited and textural iteration this year, while also possessing considerable verve and effortlessness. Golden delicious, nashi pear, fresh fennel seeds and fronds, green almond, lime pith, mandarin oil and a green cardamom/fenugreek leaf spice note. It’s saline and lightly chewy, working in neat concert with the fruit intensity that swells on the mid-palate, keen acidity joining the fray to close out, the flavours lingering indelibly. It’s also a wine that builds with interest over a couple of days and as the temperature climbs. It’s a beacon for the variety’s elevated potential here. Absolutely top drawer. – Marcus Ellis
2020 Crittenden Cri de Coeur Sous Voile Savagnin, Mornington Peninsula
If there’s a wine/style I look forward to every year, it’s this one. The ’20 spent 48 months in old oak barriques, under a protective seal of flor slowly morphing into a complex, dry and stunning drink. Flavours from Turkish dried apricots (no sweetness) dried porcini, blood orange peel, salted caramel and preserved salty lemons, yet it's so fresh. There’s a sensation of richness with aldehydic aromas and flavours, yet plenty of acidity driving this, not just the flor-yeast characters. Finishes very dry and very, very long. – Jane Faulkner
2022 Delamere Vineyards Block 3 Chardonnay, Tasmania
From Delamere's oldest Pipers River chardonnay vines, wild barrel ferment in 100% new oak, 12 months' maturation. The most Burgundian of wines for my money. Beautifully detailed white peach, citrus and nectarine fruits, softly spiced oatmeal, a wisp of struck flint, wildflowers, stone, clotted cream, gently grilled hazelnuts, almond meal and sea spray. The palate unfurls wonderfully, the flavours pulled across the tongue by pitch-perfect minerally acidity; all tension, release and sustain. Long, complex and cracking drinking. – Dave Brookes
2024 Dr Edge Chardonnay, Tasmania
A blend of chardonnay from the Derwent and Tamar Valleys; hand-picked, direct press to 50/50 French oak barrique/clay amphora, wild ferment, nine months on lees. Gorgeous grapefruit and lemon lead, followed by hints of white peach, gentle spice, crushed stone, clotted cream, clover blossom, meal and lemon curd. Such a harmonious wine with a brilliant composition, dreamy fruit profile, a decent lick of umami and that wonderful stony Tasmanian acidity. What a ripper! – Dave Brookes
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2024 KOERNER Old Vine Slate Riesling, Clare Valley
The fruit for this wine is sourced from 101-year-old vines from the Parish vineyard, and it doesn't feel like we are in the Clare anymore. It smells and drinks of elsewhere, more the ilk of Rheingau. Indeed, the red clay on slate soils imparts a level of richness beyond a single dimension. This is deliciously citrusy, citing a mandarin note amongst the usual lemon-lime. It's fleshy, tensile and feels tireless in its drive. Powdered quartz, green apple, some phenolic grip and a crunchy spiced pear note that thrums a pulse behind the endless stream of powerful fruit. A true marvel. – Katrina Butler
96 points | $50 | Diam | 12.4% alc. | Drink to 2038 | KOERNER profile | Winery website | @koernerwine
2023 Oakridge 864 Funder & Diamond Drive Block Chardonnay, Yarra Valley
From the Funder & Diamond vineyard, planted in Wandin East in '90. The '22 is the reigning Halliday Wine of the Year and this is, as you'd suspect, a worthy successor. With its bouquet of white nectarine, pink grapefruit and traces of sea spray and piercing, perfectly structured palate, this is more tightly coiled, at this stage, than the 864 Henk Chardonnay. It may prove to be more long lived, too. Those who have both will have a ton of fun comparing them over the next decade or more. – Philip Rich
