Silkman Wines is the family label of Liz and Shaun Silkman, based in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, where Liz is chief winemaker at First Creek and was named Halliday Winemaker of the Year for 2025. SILK sits at the top of the range, a barrel selection from the finest parcels of the reserve Chardonnay. Hunter Valley Chardonnay is grown on a mix of red volcanic and sandy alluvial soils around Pokolbin, in a warm, humid maritime climate where early ripening and careful canopy management are essential. The 2017 vintage is now offered as an aged release from the winery's cellars, showing the layered development that rewards patient bottle age.

SILK is a selection of the top two barrels from the reserve Chardonnay parcel, in this case matured in one-year-old French oak puncheons to add texture without dominating the fruit. Grapes were whole-bunch pressed and barrel-fermented, with the wine building complexity from lees contact and gentle, worked sulphide and matchstick characters in the reductive, Meursault-inflected style noted by reviewers. Malolactic fermentation was likely partial to retain the driving acidity and restraint. After extended barrel maturation the finest barrels were selected and the wine held in bottle at the winery, released with several years of age. Exact oak, lees and malolactic details for the 2017 NEEDS VERIFICATION.