Romance isn’t dead. Looking at the world right now, you might fear it is. Or lying dormant, at least. But you can be sure, at least once a year, when the Wantirna Estate rolls around, romance wakes with a jolt.
If your quest for joy is showing signs of lethargy, just listen to Reg Egan. “Art is the understanding of beauty through the senses, through all the senses,” wrote Reg in his book Of Rivers, Baguettes and Billabongs. “And in order to properly understand the dream of a da Vinci or the inner life of a Bach, one must be capable of adoring the scented and fugitive soul of a passionate wine.”
Wantirna Estate knows only passionate wine. “One thing that’s always astonished me is the way people change their lives; the way people go from a highly paid and prestigious job to something that’s utterly without the rewards that the previous job had,” Reg once observed. “This ability to change our lives is admirable, but it’s also something you wonder at.”
Well, yes, I shake my head and wince at what might have been had Reg not chosen to plant a vineyard on the fringe of the Yarra Valley in 1963. Thankfully, he did, at a time when he was still working in the law, and the Yarra had not yet been roused from its own post-World War I slumber.
He planted Grenache, Dolcetto, Mataro, Malbec, Crouchon, Pedro Ximénez and Lord knows what else. Eventually that hodgepodge got whittled down to three wines—Chardonnay for Isabella, Pinot Noir for Lily and Cabernet Merlot for Amelia. When Hannah, the fourth and final grandchild, was born, so was a Cabernet Franc/Merlot.
These bottles, adorned with their dreamy Leunig labels, are what this vineyard gives. It’s a pure and simple story that has kept those on Wantirna Estate’s mailing list, and sensitive souls in the wine trade, riveted for years.
“These wines are very much of the place,” says Maryann Egan matter-of-factly. So much has changed since she first toddled around these vines as a girl. “You still never feel like you’re anywhere near any of that,” she says, gesturing toward the world beyond.
This is what Wantirna Estate is. While others find it impossible—understandably so—to resist the pervading cynicism and pessimism, the romanticism of Reg’s words above still rings true. When spring rolls around and you finally get your hands on the latest Isabella, Lily, Amelia or Hannah, you step back into that idyll of innocence. These beautiful wines carry that spell.
If anything can break the spell of Mother Nature, it’s Father Time. Alas, the Egans recently announced that the vineyard is for sale. What is in barrel and bottle, and possibly a 2027 harvest, is the last the family will produce. What you have stored in your cellar and sensory memory is infinitely more precious.
And this exceptional release is an even more urgent appeal to wake up and embrace the romance while you can.
The Vintages
The 2025 season was early, from budburst in spring through to the dry, warm summer. The reds hail from the lovely 2023/24 season—not too hot, not too mild. – Maryann Egan
2025 Wantirna Estate Isabella Chardonnay RRP $112
The Chardonnay vines are grown on an east-facing, gentle slope, allowing early morning and late afternoon sunshine. This aspect is perfect for growing top-quality Chardonnay grapes. Today, the average age of the vines is over 40 years, which adds to the fruit’s complexity.
The Chardonnay grapes are hand-harvested early in the day and pressed in an airbag press. The juice is then chilled, settled and inoculated with yeast before being transferred to a cool underground cellar for fermentation in new, one and two-year-old French oak barrels. The wine is left to age on the yeast lees with regular stirring to increase texture. After around 11 months, the wine is fined and sent to bottle.
2025 was of our earliest vintages. Isabella is wine of great texture, terrific balancing acidity and quite clearly a wine from this vineyard. A classic Isabella, drinking so well now but with many years ahead of it. – Maryann Egan
From 50–60-year-old vines. A complex bouquet of yellow plum, orange zest and fresh honeycomb. Beautifully balanced on the palate, which is vibrant and saline, with a fine bead of acidity that leaves you wanting another sip as soon as you’ve finished the first. A gorgeous wine that will reward cellaring for at least five to seven years. Only 85 dozen made. 97 points. Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion Oct 2026
No shortage of flavour here, quite peachy and rich, almost a mango juiciness, combining creaminess with a bright acid cut. There’s a little cedar and spiced oak tucked neatly in, some aniseed and floral perfume, an oatmeal savoury touch, a fine chalky grip to texture, with a long and finish that combines citrus with ripe stone fruits. Lovely wine here, and while it’s good now, I’d likely give it another year in bottle for best results. 94+ points. Gary Walsh, The Winefront Sep 2026
2024 Wantirna Estate Lily Pinot Noir RRP $112
The vineyard has three distinct blocks of Pinot Noir, all hand-harvested separately. Despite the vineyard area being only 10 acres in total, the different blocks each deliver unique characters, and often there is up to two weeks’ difference in the harvest dates. The mature block—with vines dating back to the early 1970s—gives the wine its savoury tones and fine tannins. The Front block fruit is spicy, while the Fruit Tree block is generously fruity. Each component adds complexity when blended together, creating the Pinot Noir style for which Wantirna Estate is known.
We have been watching the wine evolve since it was bottled 20 months ago, and we love how it’s developed. It has really delicious fruitiness teamed with textural density and power right now. The wine will continue to age beautifully. – Maryann Egan
A light, bright crimson. This is quite different from the brooding, backward ’23. A pretty, perfumed bouquet redolent of red summer berries, fresh florals and a little spice. The palate is lively and juicy before finishing with velvety, persistent old-vine tannins. By all means, open this now and enjoy it with Peking duck, but know that it will age very nicely over the next decade. 97 points. Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion Oct 2026
This is a bolder iteration of Lily. Poached strawberry, spice, a certain creamy richness and power to the wine, kind of in the mould of a Californian Pinot. It’s nutty, ripe red fruits, some blood orange and rhubarb, and vaguely autumnal things, perhaps a little breathy in alcohol, which is a little unusual for this wine, and there’s some fine sandy tannin, a bit of sap to acidity, and a spicy finish of good length, with some mint and squishy strawberry to close. Quite plump, but also has some perfume and a good amount of character. 93 points. Gary Walsh, The Winefront Sep 2026
Textbook Yarra Cabernets. Wonderful.
Gary Walsh, The Winefront
2024 Wantirna Estate Amelia Cabernet Merlot RRP $112
A large proportion of the grapes for this wine come from the original 1963 plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc vines. The remainder is from the more recently planted—1989—Petit Verdot. Whilst the proportions differ every year, depending on fruit set and cropping levels, roughly speaking, the breakdown is as follows: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc and Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot. The addition of Petit Verdot grapes in the 1990s gave the wine a backbone of tannin and natural acidity. With its long growing season, Petit Verdot grapes are the last to be harvested, usually in mid-April.
This year’s blend is a classic from this label. The wonderful 2024 season shines through, showcasing the year’s incredible flavour concentration. A wonderful, complex mix of all the berries, generous weight and those lovely long tannins that we get from the grapes of the 60-year-old vines. 2024 produced smaller quantities than usual for this wine. – Maryann Egan
47/44/9% cabernet sauvignon/merlot and cabernet franc field blend/petit verdot. A gorgeous, bright, crimson purple. This soars effortlessly from the glass with its aromas of pure blackcurrant, dark raspberry and gentle cedar and floral notes. The more you swirl this, the more perfumed it becomes! Medium bodied, this is just as fragrant on the palate, which is simultaneously concentrated, structured, elegant and very long. A simply superb wine. 98 points. Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion Oct 2026
Gets you in straight away. It has a violet and rose perfume, redcurrant and blackcurrant, pencil and cedar, and a little spice. Medium-bodied, crispness and precision, but also a good amount of red and black fruit flavour and concentration, some tobacco and pencil savouriness, light grainy tannin grip with a bright finish of excellent length. Textbook Yarra Cabernets. Wonderful. 96 points. Gary Walsh, The Winefront Sep 2026
2024 Wantirna Estate Hannah Cabernet Franc/Merlot RRP $199
A special release wine of which only one barrel is made each year, producing approximately 288 bottles per year. A blend of around 50% of each variety, the wine is aged in a new barrique from the Burgundian cooperage of Dargaud and Jaeglé. To capture the fragrance and perfume of Cabernet Franc and the mulberry character of Merlot, the recent wines have been bottled after 12 months in barrel. The wine is released after a further 15 months of bottle ageing.
First made from the 1999 harvest, the wine is inspired by the beautiful wines of St-Émilion, in particular Château Cheval Blanc. The 2023 Hannah Cabernet Franc Merlot blend exudes a fabulous perfume of the Cabernet Franc. Juicy and ripe black and blue berries, with a hint of oak from the single French barrique it is made in. Ripe and ready to drink, but will just keep on growing in bottle.
As usual, just the one barrel made of Hannah. A gorgeously fragrant wine, both on the nose and the palate. The perfume of the Cabernet Franc really shines, along with the juicy, fruit backbone of the Merlot. Add a couple of years in bottle and this wine is just a delicious treat. – Maryann Egan
