Wine Labs · Market intelligence
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay: The Estate and Prices in 2026
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay: the estate, its latest tech sheets, plus live prices from 330 shops, 6,923 auction sales and 376 restaurants.
The Art Series Chardonnay is the top white at Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River, Western Australia. Each vintage carries a painting by an Australian contemporary artist on the label (Leeuwin Estate). The wine made the estate's name early, when Decanter recommended it highly after an international blind tasting in the early 1980s.
Below is what the winery has published about the estate and its latest vintages, and what the wine sells for today in shops, at auction and on restaurant lists. The prices come from Wine Labs data collected on November 4, 2026.
Art Series Chardonnay at a glance
| Producer | Leeuwin Estate, Stevens Road, Margaret River, Western Australia |
| Owners | The Horgan family; Simone Furlong and Justin Horgan are joint chief executives |
| First commercial vintage at the estate | 1979 |
| Grapes | 100% Chardonnay, Gin Gin clone |
| Winery price | A$159 for the 2023 (Australian dollars) |
| Typical shop price | $109 (median of 330 sellers) |
| Typical auction price | $83 a bottle, buyer's premium included (6,923 sales) |
Who makes the Art Series Chardonnay
Denis and Tricia Horgan founded Leeuwin Estate on former cattle farmland. Napa Valley winemaker Robert Mondavi picked out the site and mentored the couple in the early years. The estate's own sources give slightly different dates. The media kit says the Horgans bought the farm in 1969, Mondavi identified the site in 1972 and the estate was founded in 1974. The Our story page says it was established in 1973.
Both agree on the next steps. A nursery went in in 1974, the first vineyards were planted from 1975, and the first commercial vintage was 1979. They differ again on the Decanter result: the media kit names the 1980 Art Series Chardonnay, and the Our story page names the 1981.
The second and third generations of the family run the estate today, led by the siblings Simone Furlong and Justin Horgan as joint chief executives. Phil Hutchison is senior winemaker and Dave Bursey is winemaker. Lane Williams is the viticulturist (media kit).
Where the fruit comes from
Leeuwin's original vineyards sit on rolling hills along the Boodjidup Brook, 47 m to 85 m above sea level. The soils are red-brown gravelly sandy loams over clay, formed from very old granite and gneiss. The estate has 121 hectares under vine and has planted more than 35 hectares of new vineyard since 2019 (media kit).
All of Leeuwin's Chardonnay is the Gin Gin clone, an early French import. It sets small, uneven bunches of 70 to 100 grams, with large and tiny berries side by side. The estate says the smaller berries concentrate flavor and acidity.
Recent vintages
Leeuwin's trade page currently carries technical sheets for two vintages of the Art Series Chardonnay, so we don't build a full vintage table. Both describe the same method. The fruit is hand-picked, destemmed and held on skins, with some whole-bunch pressed parcels. All the juice is fermented in new French oak barriques, and the lees are stirred regularly.
The 2022 sheet gives 14.0% alcohol and a release date of March 2025. It says 11 months in barrel in the method notes and 10 months in the data table. The label is by Lesley Dumbrell. The 2023 sheet gives 13.5% alcohol, 11 months in barrel, 100% new oak and a release date of March 2026. Its label is by Mark Howson. Both were released about three years after harvest.
What the Art Series Chardonnay costs today
On November 4, 2026, 330 sellers had the Art Series Chardonnay on offer in a 750 ml bottle, counting each chain once. The largest groups are in the US (112 sellers), Australia (91), the UK (35) and Hong Kong (23). Half of all offers sit between $96 and $135, and the median is $109. The winery sells the 2023 at A$159 a bottle in its own shop, in cases of at least 12 bottles to Australian addresses, shipping included (Leeuwin Estate). That is in Australian dollars, so we keep it out of the chart below.
Per 750 ml bottle, US dollars, November 2026. The winery price (A$159) is in Australian dollars and not shown.
| Channel | Price | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Auction | $83 | Median of 6,923 sales, buyer's premium included |
| Shops | $109 | Median of 330 sellers, all vintages |
| Restaurants | $218 | Median of 376 wine lists |
These prices don't measure the same thing. Shop prices mix many vintages and countries. Auction prices are what one lot sold for, with the buyer's premium but before shipping, tax and storage. A restaurant price includes service.
By vintage, shops ask $96 to $195. The five vintages from 2018 to 2022 sit between $106 and $113. At auction, the same vintages sold for medians of $73 to $106. The 2023 is the one vintage that sells for more at auction ($106, eight sales) than in shops ($96). The 2016 has the widest gap: $195 in shops against $95 at auction, though only seven sellers stand behind the shop figure.
Medians per 750 ml. Vintages with at least five shop sellers and five auction sales.
| Vintage | Shop median | Auction median |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | $135 | $73 |
| 2014 | $122 | $91 |
| 2016 | $195 | $95 |
| 2017 | $160 | $90 |
| 2018 | $106 | $91 |
| 2019 | $107 | $88 |
| 2020 | $107 | $91 |
| 2021 | $108 | $88 |
| 2022 | $113 | $88 |
| 2023 | $96 | $106 |
| Vintage | Shop sellers | Shop median | Auction sales | Auction median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 7 | $135 | 223 | $73 |
| 2014 | 5 | $122 | 194 | $91 |
| 2016 | 7 | $195 | 276 | $95 |
| 2017 | 9 | $160 | 234 | $90 |
| 2018 | 8 | $106 | 224 | $91 |
| 2019 | 31 | $107 | 152 | $88 |
| 2020 | 34 | $107 | 144 | $91 |
| 2021 | 95 | $108 | 241 | $88 |
| 2022 | 123 | $113 | 130 | $88 |
| 2023 | 57 | $96 | 8 | $106 |
We leave a vintage out when fewer than five sellers or five sales stand behind either median. Per-vintage shop figures leave out stores whose listings do not state a reliable vintage.
At auction
We have 6,923 Art Series Chardonnay sales with a recorded price, at 22 auction houses, from November 2001 to November 2026. Langtons accounts for 6,674 of them. Spectrum Wine Auctions (34), Wickman's (30), Acker Merrall Condit (29) and K&L Wines (22) make up most of the rest. The median is $83, and half of all sales fall between $68 and $97.
Old vintages trade too. The 1981 has eight sales with a median of $55. The 1995 has the highest median of any vintage with more than 100 sales: $100 across 282 sales.
The median by year of sale fell to $63 in 2015, then rose. It has been between $91 and $98 every year since 2021.
All vintages, per 750 ml, buyer's premium included. 2026 runs to November 3.
| Year | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | $90 | 219 sales |
| 2013 | $85 | 192 sales |
| 2014 | $80 | 257 sales |
| 2015 | $63 | 208 sales |
| 2016 | $67 | 352 sales |
| 2017 | $74 | 159 sales |
| 2018 | $72 | 285 sales |
| 2019 | $69 | 448 sales |
| 2020 | $76 | 297 sales |
| 2021 | $95 | 124 sales |
| 2022 | $98 | 269 sales |
| 2023 | $95 | 467 sales |
| 2024 | $93 | 390 sales |
| 2025 | $93 | 519 sales |
| 2026 | $91 | 514 sales |
| Year of sale | Sales | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 219 | $90 |
| 2013 | 192 | $85 |
| 2014 | 257 | $80 |
| 2015 | 208 | $63 |
| 2016 | 352 | $67 |
| 2017 | 159 | $74 |
| 2018 | 285 | $72 |
| 2019 | 448 | $69 |
| 2020 | 297 | $76 |
| 2021 | 124 | $95 |
| 2022 | 269 | $98 |
| 2023 | 467 | $95 |
| 2024 | 390 | $93 |
| 2025 | 519 | $93 |
| 2026 | 514 | $91 |
On restaurant lists
The Art Series Chardonnay is on 376 restaurant wine lists in our data, collected between January 2025 and November 2026. Nearly all are in Australia (320 lists marked Australia, plus a few dozen with other spellings or no country). The median list price is $218 a bottle, and half the lists price it between $176 and $273.
The Art Series Chardonnay in the Leeuwin Estate range
Leeuwin makes three ranges: Art Series, Prelude Vineyards and Siblings (media kit). These are the wines with the most sellers in our data, all vintages together.
| Wine | Shop sellers | Shop median |
|---|---|---|
| Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay | 330 | $109 |
| Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon | 261 | $60 |
| Leeuwin Estate Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay | 209 | $35 |
| Leeuwin Estate Art Series Riesling | 169 | $22 |
| Leeuwin Estate Siblings Sauvignon Blanc | 160 | $23 |
| Leeuwin Estate Prelude Vineyards Cabernet Merlot | 150 | $30 |
| Leeuwin Estate Art Series Shiraz | 150 | $36 |
| Leeuwin Estate Art Series Sauvignon Blanc | 90 | $27 |
The Art Series Chardonnay row repeats the figures above. The other rows take each seller's lowest price across all vintages, with chains counted once.
Buying the Art Series Chardonnay
The winery sells the current release through its online shop, for delivery in Australia only. Older vintages trade often at auction, above all at Langtons in Australia.
See all Leeuwin Estate wines on the Leeuwin Estate producer page. See live Art Series Chardonnay prices and auction history in Wine Labs market data.
Data methodology: Wine Labs data, November 4, 2026, for "Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay, Margaret River, Australia". Shop prices are live 750 ml offers from online merchants and wine shops, one price per seller per vintage (the lowest), with each chain counted once, and with multi-bottle packs and the winery's own shop left out. Auction prices are sold lots with a recorded result, buyer's premium included, per 750 ml bottle, with mixed lots and flagged outliers left out. Restaurant prices are one bottle price per restaurant. All prices in US dollars. The one exception is the winery price, which is in Australian dollars and comes from Leeuwin Estate's own shop. Estate and winemaking details are from Leeuwin Estate's website, media kit and technical sheets, linked above.