The Terre Maritime is drawn from several rows of Chardonnay in the top corner of Merricks Grove. Barney Flanders has always felt this parcel results in a superb and unique Chardonnay. Here, the 28-year-old vines are rooted in cool grey loam with pockets of crumbly red clay. The plot sits at 90 metres and faces slightly east, offering the vines a cooler, more sheltered aspect. There’s less vigour here than in the rest of the vineyard and the bunches are a touch smaller. As a result, the fruit from this parcel makes the intense yet finessed wines we associate with Garagiste Chardonnay.

After rigorous sorting, the fruit was whole-bunch pressed into 500- litre puncheons where it wild-fermented before resting on gross lees for nine months. The cool ’24 vintage has left its mark. The wine is salt-licked and clean, living up to its namesake. It opens with zaps of acidity and a lightning-strike of flint followed by a budding glow from white stone fruit and anise spice. It’s a gorgeous, don’t miss Mornington Chardonnay that will reward patient and impatient drinkers alike.

Cropped from a half-acre of the Merricks Grove vineyard, Terre de Feu (the Land of Fire) takes its name from a jagged pocket of red clay which darts through this plot. Many years ago, Barney noticed that the vines were producing slightly smaller bunches, yielding wines of greater depth and concentration. In 2013 he decided to create this micro-cuvée. The fruit’s intensity and power allows him to 100% whole-bunch ferment every year, and Terre de Feu remains Garagiste’s only Pinot to be made this way.

This is arguably Barney Flander’s most iconic and divisive wine. He carefully sorts in the vineyard and winery to ensure the most pristine fruit. The wine then sees 100% whole-bunches and a splash of carbonic in the winery. This year, Barney gently foot-trod the grapes letting them ferment naturally on skins for nearly a month. Twenty-five percent went into new oak barrels, and it stayed on gross lees for 10 months. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The resulting wine is intensely floral and earthy showing rose, black tea, wet moss and smouldering pinecones.

A wine of the heart! 2022 is only the second release, after 2018, of Barney’s Flanders’ Mornington Blanc de Noirs. When it comes to the world’s great sparkling wines, Flanders knows his onions; it’s no surprise that he turned to his top vineyard in Merricks as the source. With depth of flavour and freshness in mind, Garagiste’s harvest for the sparkling base takes place roughly two weeks before the Merricks vineyard table wines. In the shed, the fruit is slowly whole-bunch pressed directly to old barriques for a wild ferment without temperature control. Post-primary, it was kept on full solids for 10 months.

Put to bottle in January 2023, the wine stayed on lees for 30 months and was disgorged in June 2025 with 3 g/l dosage. Wearing the lightest hint of colour, this is finely perfumed with a bright, red-fruited nose deliciously reminiscent of true Blanc de Noirs styles, along with the accompanying energising acidity, abundant mineral tones and a refreshing finish. Far from frivolous, it’s a perfect aperitif style. Future disgorgements will show more complexity; here and now, this is a terrific wine, with far more sophistication than you might expect at this price.

The Merricks Chardonnay, from 28-year-old vines on soils of grey loams and red ferrosols on south- and southeast-facing slopes, was harvested and sorted by hand before being pressed as bunches. Fermentation was spontaneous with high levels of solids in 500-litre François Frères puncheons. A small portion went through natural malolactic fermentation, and the wine rested in large-format barrels (15% new) on full gross lees for 10 months before bottling. Barney seeks long, slow lees interaction, choosing extended, gentle contact over stirring, a process writ large in the supple, integrated texture of his recent releases.

This is a home run: pithy, punchy and pure with serious revs under the bonnet. Expect stone fruits, juicy citrus and well-pitched richness allied to deliciously chewy texture, spine-tingling acidity and big, fleshy presence. As always, a Chardonnay of pedigree, class and substance, and a high-water mark for Garagiste’s Chardonnay.

The Pinot vines at Merricks are 28 years old and sit on grey loams and red ferrosols, but with a north-facing aspect. Yields were slightly higher than in 2023, and the fruit’s integrity meant it retained balance with Barney’s preferred inclusion of 33% bunches. The winemaking is, as always, pretty hands-off: natural fermentation as bunches and whole berries, with gentle extraction and 10 months in 20% new oak.

Barney’s touch with whole bunches is notable and, as usual, it’s seamlessly integrated, providing savoury balance to the trademark power and intensity of the Merricks fruit. It’s very deep and layered, full of berries, spice, flowers and licks of minerality. This is serious (and seriously brilliant) Pinot, combining grippy structure with fresh lift, gliding weight and lingering length. This will get even better with air and—why not?—roast duck.

In Barney Flanders's hands, Pinot Gris can be a wonderful thing. Time after time, you can expect a mouthwatering pure Gris with texture, structure and balance, and the 2024 is right in the zone. The fruit is sourced from 28-year-old, northeast-facing vines rooted in the signature grey loam and red ferrosols soils of Merricks. The majority of the fruit is pressed as bunches to old puncheons with full solids and kept on lees, while a small portion of the blend (10%) ferments carbonically for three weeks. The whole bunch thing works a treat, capturing stone fruit and floral perfume, whereas the maceration nails the spice, red fruit zip, blush colour and elegant, detailed structure. Expect a pure-fruited, perfumed, spicy and savoury Gris, deftly weighted with waves of flavour, nippy texture and drinkability that’s off the scale.