Destination: 'Wakefield, Clare Valley’



Wakefield (or Taylors as it’s known in Australia) was established in 1969 by Bill Taylor Senior and his sons John and Bill. At the time the family were wine merchants in Sydney and it was a bottle of 1966 Mouton Rothschild that inspired Bill to seek out an Australian terroir suitable for producing Cabernet Sauvignon. They purchased their first vineyard near the Wakefield River in Auburn, selecting the site for its combination of cool climate and red terra rossa soil. The Taylors (Wakefield) emblem of the three seahorse refers to fossilized remains found during the initial excavation of this vineyard. Today the company is run by the third generation of brothers, Mitchell, Justin and Clinton, assisted by winemakers Adam Eggins and Helen McCarthy. The Taylor family estate extends to 750 hectares, of which 415 are currently under vine.