Willow Lake, 2025

Vines planted between 1979 and 1982, bottled under their own name for the first time this year, and only a few hundred cases made.

Willow Lake sits about 300 metres up at Gladysdale in the Upper Yarra. Its Chardonnay vines went in between 1979 and 1982 and are among the oldest in that corner of the valley. Viticulturist Tim Wray has looked after them since 1996. 2025 is the first year Patrick Sullivan has bottled the site on its own. It was a wet season with summer heat and a quick, early harvest.