I genuinely feel that today’s Prelude would give early vintages Art Series a really good run for their money. If someone could kindly invent a time machine so that we can test this hypothesis, that would be very kind. Until then, please believe me that having tasted every vintage of Art Series back to 1983, I genuinely feel that Prelude is now of a standard for it to be thought of as not a second wine but of the main Estate Chardonnay at Leeuwin and Art Series can sit to its side as a limited release icon wine. 2021 Prelude is nothing short of superb, with layered, plush, classy fruit. There is amazing depth and purity here, and as I noted in my scribblings, it is ‘Grand-Vin-shaped’. I used to think I should squirrel away Prelude with starters before moving on to main course white wines. Those days are long gone – this is a superstar, and the value here is terrific.