Wakefield Wines

11.03.24

Jessica Walker

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We are delighted to welcome Wakefield Wines to the Jascot's Portfolio. Led by Bill Taylor Senior, and his two sons, Bill and John, the family's passion for wine inspired them to try and create their own. They were motivated by winemakers of Europe (in particular, Château Mouton Rothschild) so they set out to find the perfect piece of land in Australia to establish their vineyard. Wakefield Winery was founded in South Australia in 1969, (the same day Apollo 11 touched down), located on the banks of the Wakefield River in the small town of Auburn, in the Clare Valley.

The vineyards are in the Mt. Lofty Ranges where there are warm summers mitigated by cooling afternoon breezes which are vital to retaining the freshness and aromatics in their finished wines. The family’s original vision was to create table wines that rivalled the best of the ‘old world’. In this pursuit they set about planting Australia’s largest Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard. It’s this vision that still guides Wakefield today. Their Clare Valley property now consists of 767 hectares with 300ha under vine and includes 12 different grape varieties namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Viognier, Tempranillo, Carménère and Grenache.

Their St Andrews Range shows authentic Clare Valley style and only uses single varietals and have developed a reputation as benchmark wines for examples of truly great Clare Valley wine. The Masterstroke range explores regional differences between McLaren Vale, the Clare Valley and Coonawarra to capture the best parcels from these areas to express the individual terroirs. Jascot's Portfolio will also include some of their limited allocation top varietal wines made only from the very best vintages, this includes Wakefield's 'The Visionary', their pinnacle Cabernet Sauvignon and an ode to their grandfather's original vision of stylistically recreating great Bordeaux wines. There is also 'The Pioneer' which is dedicated to Australia's most planted grape variety, Shiraz, which is named to celebrate the pioneering spirit of Bill Taylor; who had the conviction to do things differently and was astute enough to recognise the emerging popularity of Shiraz. At the time, the plan was to plant most of the Clare Valley vineyard with Cabernet Sauvignon but he insisted that a small block be set aside to also plant Shiraz. This made them early champions of Australia’s signature grape.

Wakefield Wines are at the forefront of sustainability among Australian wineries with many initiatives including drip irrigation, ammonia energy-saving refrigeration, a revolutionary flat bottle for their ‘one small step range, solar panels, and a partnership with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science supporting the conservation of seahorses and protecting marine habitats. They were the first independent Australian winery to commit to Science Based Targets and have already reduced their emissions by 330 tC02e per year whilst undertaking a project to measure the Carbon Footprint with aims to become a Carbon Neutral winery.