2024 Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Chardonnay | 95+ Point Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

🔥 95+ Point Chardonnay | Bondar's New Ultra-Premium Adelaide Hills Release

High-altitude Chardonnay from over 500 metres — intense, tightly coiled and built to become something seriously special

Bowyer Ridge Vineyard. Lobethal. Just three barriques. An extraordinary new chapter for Bondar.

95+ Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Elite Adelaide Hills Chardonnay | Precision, Texture & Electric Acidity

“A tiny-production Chardonnay of remarkable intensity and tension — cool-climate fruit, tightly wound acidity and exceptional length from one of Bondar's most ambitious projects yet.”

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Pale straw with brilliant green-gold highlights.

Aroma: Cool and restrained at first, gradually revealing nectarine, lemon and green pear, followed by stone-fruit kernel, fig leaf, subtle oak spice and delicate nutty complexity.

Palate: Tightly coiled and beautifully structured. There's plenty of fruit and texture here, but the driving force is the wine's powerful natural acidity. Nectarine, citrus and pear meet fine pithy texture, subtle creaminess and restrained oak.

Finish: Long, precise and energetic. Citrus and stone fruit carry through with nutty complexity and an impressive line of acidity that suggests this will become significantly more expressive with bottle age.

Marcus Ellis awarded the wine 95+ points for Halliday Wine Companion, highlighting its impressive length and tightly coiled acidity, and suggesting a little time will bring out its best.

Hope Springs Eternal – Bondar Goes to Another Level

This is an important new project for Bondar Wines.

Hope Springs Eternal was created with one very clear ambition:

To make great, elegant and age-worthy wines from vineyard sites Bondar believes are among the very best for each variety.

The 2024 vintage is only the second Hope Springs Eternal release, and Chardonnay joins the range for the first time alongside Grenache and Shiraz.

This isn't simply another Bondar Chardonnay.

This is Bondar aiming for the top.

Bowyer Ridge Vineyard – Over 500 Metres

The fruit comes from the:

Bowyer Ridge Vineyard

at Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, sitting at:

Over 500 metres above sea level.

That altitude is crucial.

Cooler growing conditions help Chardonnay retain the acidity, tension and freshness needed to balance serious flavour concentration.

And you can see that in the finished wine.

This isn't broad, buttery Chardonnay.

It's:

Citrus

Green Pear

Cool Nectarine

Fig Leaf

Stone-Fruit Kernel

Electric Acidity

Subtle Oak Spice

It's Chardonnay built around tension rather than excess.

Just Three Barriques

Now this is the part that really caught my attention.

The entire wine came from:

THREE BARRIQUES.

That's it.

Two older barrels and one second-fill barrique, with the wine undergoing full malolactic fermentation.

We're talking genuine micro-production.

And importantly, the winemaking isn't flashy.

There's no attempt to manufacture complexity through excessive oak or cellar tricks.

Instead, the emphasis is on:

Site. Fruit. Texture. Acidity. Time.

Exactly where it should be.

95+ Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Marcus Ellis' review is particularly interesting because he sees this as a wine that hasn't even fully revealed itself yet.

95+ Points.

He highlights cool nectarine, lemon, green pear, stone-fruit kernel, fig leaf and subtle oak spice, together with fine pithy texture, creaminess and powerful acid drive. Most importantly, he sees impressive length and recommends giving the wine some time to show its best.

That little “+” matters.

This feels like a Chardonnay whose best days are still ahead of it.

Bondar – One of Australia's Most Exciting Producers

Bondar's trajectory has been remarkable.

The winery was named Halliday's Best Value Winery in Australia in 2025, is rated Five Red Stars, and has previously been named Halliday's Best New Winery. Andre Bondar was also runner-up for Best Winemaker in the Halliday Wine Companion.

The philosophy has always been about wines with:

Brightness • Savouriness • Structure • Texture • Drinkability

Hope Springs Eternal takes that philosophy and pushes it into a more ambitious, cellar-worthy direction.

The Chardonnay to Cellar

This isn't the Bondar Chardonnay I'd necessarily open tonight.

That's actually what makes it exciting.

There's plenty of flavour already, but the acidity remains tightly wrapped around the fruit.

Halliday's Marcus Ellis specifically recommends giving it a year or so to start revealing its best.

I'd expect this to become increasingly complex as the citrus and stone fruit begin integrating with the nutty, creamy and savoury elements.

Buy several.

Try one relatively young.

Then watch the rest evolve.

Food Pairings

• Seared scallops
• Grilled lobster
• Moreton Bay bugs
• Kingfish
• Roast chicken
• Pork belly
• Grilled snapper
• Mushroom risotto
• Comté
• Triple-cream Brie

The acidity gives it enormous versatility at the table.

Why We Love It

This is one of the most exciting new Chardonnays I've seen from Bondar.

You're getting:

100% Chardonnay

Bowyer Ridge Vineyard, Lobethal

500+ metres elevation

Just three barriques produced

First Hope Springs Eternal Chardonnay

95+ Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Serious natural acidity

Genuine cellaring potential

And the RRP?

$78.

Bondar itself released the wine at $80, while current specialist retail pricing sits around $75–$80, so $78 is right in the market for this extremely limited release.

But this isn't about finding the cheapest Bondar Chardonnay.

The regular Bondar Adelaide Hills Chardonnay is already an outstanding wine.

Hope Springs Eternal is something different.

This is Bondar selecting a high-altitude vineyard they believe can produce elite, age-worthy Chardonnay, then making only three barrels.

And the first release has immediately received:

95+ Points from Halliday.

That's some debut.

Tightly coiled. Mineral. Textural. Powerful. Precise.

The 2024 Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Chardonnay feels like the beginning of something very exciting — an ambitious, tiny-production Adelaide Hills Chardonnay designed not merely to impress now, but to evolve.

95+ Halliday. 500+ Metres. Three Barriques. $78 RRP.

👉 Extremely limited and one for serious Australian Chardonnay drinkers — I'd be buying this for the cellar before people realise just how good the Hope Springs Eternal project could become.