As a general rule, cheap white wines are better to drink than cheap red wines.

Peach and pear with a little wood spice – fruity but well contained. Medium weight with some citrus flavours, balanced unobtrusive acidity and even a little flintiness. Finish is clean, if not modest. Pretty stylish for $10 and easy to drink.

Rated : 87 Points
Tasted : Apr 14
Alcohol : 13%
Price : $10
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2013 - 2014

Very drinkable wine - smells of guavas, tastes of citrus and melons with an oily finish.

It's a light style of chardie, with the creamy stonefruit characters balanced by tart melon and crisp acid. Some of the yeast lees from the sparkling wine production have gone into this, introducing a creamy textural feel. The key has been early picking.

CAsher, nougat aromas with interesting wild ferment notes, and complex fruit/oak flavours.

This is jaw dropping value and for a tenner you'll do very well indeed to find a better Chardonnay. Don't judge a wine by its price as this one has plenty going for it; peach, apricot and nectarine on the nose with a slice of lemon to keep it fresh and vibrant. This wine simply slides down the hatch, easily.
It has a slinky texture with a nice rich mouthfeel and just enough acid to keep the structure in check. Here is a wine you'll crack open at the start of lunch, and after having drunk that expensive bottle which didn't quite live up to expectations you'll probably wish you had a couple more of these in the fridge.
Pour this wine when you're looking to mix it up mid-week with some salmon, chicken pasta or risotto. At this price you can forget about all the financial doom and gloom and make this your guilt-free white wine staple.

Moderate intensity with light nose of citrus and melons. MV.
Nose is fresh with red apples and palate has notes of mineral with pineapple flavours. BD.

You can't argue about the value for money offered by the Deakin Estate range. Made from Murray River fruit, this is a fresh and lively little wine with lemon and lime, pineapple and crisp green apple flavours on the palate. The fruit is quite sweet but the finish is refreshingly dry. Our bottle was empty in quick-smart time, underlining that is a serious bargain buy. Pair it with sweet and sour pork.

The Chardonnay was quite a stand-out and significantly different to the 'peachiness' we've been used to with Deakin Estate Chardonnays in the past: this one has loads of citrus, pineapple, pear and apple flavours with nice acidity and it quite sweet for a Chardonnay. It proved a perfect match with the Hoisin sauce-basted barbeque pork chops and salad.

Reasonably priced, tasty chardonnays such as this Mildura district wine are very popular, despite the rumbling of the anti-chardonnay crowd. It's nicely balanced with no single character dominating. Melony, peachy fruit, a dab of oak, smooth mouthfeel and an easy dry finish. 3.5 Stars

Creamy butterscotch nose and slightly oily, complex and savoury palate. Would be great with food.

Has developed unexpectedly well in bottle, growing in flavour, without becoming broad, just ripe, gently mouthfilling stone fruit. 88 Points

In the Best of the Rest - those wines that just missed out on Top 100 status.
Whites under $20. Deakin Estate 2008 Chardonnay. 88 points

A very drinkable chardonnay for this price point. Layers of creamy fruit worked neatly with a light touch of oak. Has a slightly nutty character with a fine lingering acid. Nice wine in the short term.
87/100

Pop out to the bottle shop and buy a bottle of Hanwood Estate or Deakin Estate Chardonnay - you will get change out of $20 and can see two really lovely wines that beat a lot of twice the price NZ Savvy.

Watery pale lemon green colour. Elegant aromatic varietal nose, broken twig, crushed leaf with lemon/lime overtones. Excellent balance of fruit and racy acidity in the mouth, long fruity finish continuing the theme running throughout. Very nice wine.

There are some spice and rose petal flavours from this Murray-Darling chardonnay, slong with more usual tropical notes - an honest, well-made white.

I wouldn't bother looking at the rating if I was you. If you're in the market for a sub-$10 chardonnay you won't find a lot better than this.
What a spiffy little number ths is. It tastes of musk, toast, and peach but it reaches beyond your expectations because it has such good weight and, for the asking price, flavour.
Rated : 86 Points

Deakin Estate Chardonnay is rare value for a wine that delivers all you look for in a chardy –stone fruit aroma, peaches and cream on the palate and some depth.

A simple, fruit-driven, light-bodied chardonnay ideal for current quaffing . Plenty of nice peach and melon flavours with just a smidgeon of oak to tart things up a little. 84/100

This wine has got two things going for it , its dirt cheap and more importantly it delivers big time on quality. Crafted by winemaker Phil Spillman it's clean and creamy with nice acidity, melon and stonefruit peach and nectarine flavours on the nose and palate and a crisp finish. Drink it with pasta carbonara.

The 07 is a worthy successor to the trophy winning 06, and should further enhance Deakin's reputation as one of the leading wineries in the Murray-Darling region. Plenty of ripe peach and melon fruit flavour neatly packed within a modest structure and well balanced by refreshing acidity.
Remarkable value.