Wakefield St Andrews Chardonnay, Clare Valley

Description

Wakefield St Andrews Chardonnay is a white wine made with grapes sourced from some of the best vineyards owned by the Taylor family. The St Andrews range is named after the historic Clare Valley wine producing property (established in 1892) that the Taylor family acquired in 1995. The first Wakefield St Andrews wines were released in 1999 and they are only released in the best vintages.

Wakefield Estate is located in the heart of the Clare Valley and was founded by wine merchant Bill Taylor Senior in 1969 with the purchase of 178 hectares of vineyards near the Wakefield River in Auburn. In 1995 the Taylor family purchased the historical St Andrews property next door to the Wakefield estate, and the first Wakefield St Andrews wines were released in 1999. Wakefield Wines are still known under their original name of Taylor’s Wines in Australia. Bill Taylor carefully chose the site for its red brown loam over limestone soils ( this is known as “terra rossa”) and cool climate of the Clare valley. The same year, 1969, the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted. Today Wakefield Estate is one of the most highly esteemed cool climate producers in Australia.

The grapes for Wakefield St Andrews Chardonnay are harvested at night, they are whole berry pressed and the juice is cooled to 8C. This whole process takes around 15 minutes and helps to maintain freshness, delicacy and finesse in the wine. The juice is then cold-settled prior to fermentation in French oak barrels. There is battonage (lees stirring) for an 8 week period after fermentation. Finally the wine is aged on lees in 80% new, 20% second fill, tight-grained, air seasoned French oak barrels (from a Burgundian cooper) for 10 months.

The St Andrews range comprises this wine and also a Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.