The Portsea Estate Main Ridge Vineyard Chardonnay 2024 steps up from the entry-tier Back Beach wine, drawing fruit from a single named vineyard on the Mornington Peninsula for a more textural, layered style. It shows more grip and detail than the estate's easy-drinking tier, without moving into the intensity of the reserve wines above it.

White peach and grapefruit sit alongside a subtle nutty, flinty complexity and a faint hint of white flowers, with a fuller, more textured palate than the Back Beach wine offers. There's a gentle savouriness running through the fruit that adds real interest through the mid-palate.

The texture is where this wine earns its mid-tier place — a fine, slightly chalky mouthfeel builds through to a long, mineral-edged finish with genuine persistence rather than a quick fade.

It suits richer dishes than the entry-tier wine: try it with pan-seared scallops, roast chicken with tarragon, or a creamy mushroom risotto finished with parmesan.

Drinking well now, with the structure to hold and gain complexity for another two to three years.