Wakefield Estate Chardonnay

Description

Wakefield Estate Chardonnay is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in the Clare Valley and Padthaway wine growing regions.

Wakefield Wines is located in the heart of the Clare Valley. The company was founded by wine merchant Bill Taylor Senior in 1969 with the purchase of 178 hectares of vineyards near the Wakefield River in Auburn. Bill Taylor carefully chose the site for its red brown loam over limestone soils ( this is known as “terra rossa”) and the cool climate of the Clare valley. In that same year, 1969, the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted. Since 2000 the company has been run by Managing Director and third generation Winemaker Mitchell Taylor, the grandson of Bill Taylor Senior.

Today Wakefield Estate is one of the most highly esteemed cool climate producers in Australia. Almost all of the grapes are sourced from 500 hectares of family-owned vineyards in the winery which makes it one of the largest single estate plantings in Australia. They do source some fruit from trusted growers in other regions, Coonawarra, for example. The family’s home estate and vineyards are situated in South Australia’s beautiful Clare Valley, in the sub-region of Auburn and stretch to another sub-region border, Watervale. As well as the estate range, they also produce the Jaraman and St Andrew’s ranges. 

The grapes for Wakefield Estate Chardonnay come from vineyards in the Clare Valley and Padthaway and are harvested and delivered to the winery at night to preserve the freshness and aromatics in the grapes. The grapes are whole berry pressed, quickly chilled and pressed again. The majority of the juice is barrel fermented in used French oak barrels. Some of the wine is fermented using native yeast and some is fermented in stainless steel. All parcels are lees stirred for 4 months and are then finally aged in oak cask for a further 6 to 8 months.

Wakefield Wines are known under their original name of Taylor’s Wines in Australia and members of Australia’s First Families of Wine (AFFW) alongside other prestigious producers such as Jim Barry, Tyrrells and d’Arenberg.

The 2019 vintage fruit is sourced Clare Valley (64%) / Padthaway (36%).