Woodlands Wilyabrup Chardonnay CONFIRM VINTAGE

Chardonnay Margaret River Western Australia
The Wilyabrup subregion of Margaret River is widely acclaimed by industry pundits as the source of Australia's finest Chardonnay. Woodland's consuming ambition is to create wines which emulate the great vineyards of the world. There is less than a hectare of low yielding Chardonnay at Woodlands and output is highly limited. Woodlands is produced exclusively from Mendoza, the clone that made Margaret River famous for Chardonnay. A luxurious regimen of lees stirring and new oak fermentation adds mouth filling textures and rich complexity.
Available in cartons of six
Case of 6
$221.50
Chardonnay vines were planted in 1985 to light gravelly loam soils atop Woodland's south facing slope. The Gingin/ Mendoza clone was first choice, famous for it's hen and chicken bunchset, delivering low yields with higher levels of acidity and great intensity of flavour. Grapes are hand picked at ripe and healthy baumes, each batch is separately destemmed through an advanced vibrating hopper and pressed into French oak for a luxurious course of barrel ferments, enhancing intensity of fruit while achieving a more complex flavour profile. Upon completion, most batches are racked, a third of the wine remains in barrel. Come September, components are racked and assembled for filtration and bottling.
Intense straw hue. Layers of stonefruit and lime, nectarines and pear, mineral notes and struck flint over subtle French oak. The palate is balanced and refined, showing great poise and finesse, stonefruits and citrus, mineral and flint over delightful French oak, finishing with a vibrant crisp texture from the bright natural acidity. A rich, full bodied wine with excelent retention of natural freshness.
Woodlands
13 - 13 of 13
«back 1 2
Woodlands
Woodlands is a ten hectare vineyard located in the Wilyabrup region of Margaret River established in 1973 by David and Heather Watson and remains family owned and operated

Woodlands vineyard was one of the first five vineyards to be planted in the Margaret River Wine Region. David and Heather aimed to create wines to emulate the great vineyards of Bordeaux, namely Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet based blends. Woodlands came to fame early on with the release of the 1981 Andrew Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine took out trophies for Best Red Wine at the Perth Wine Show, the Mt Barker Wine Show and the National Wine Show. This wine was the first from Margaret River to achieve a National Red Wine Trophy. Subsequent Cabernets made by David Watson won trophies and critical acclaim across the country.

Woodlands

In 1992 Woodlands production virtually ceased while David and Heather brought their children up in private schools in Perth, and fruit was sold to other high profile producers in the region. In 1999, with the children out of school, Woodlands began to produce wines again, making the most of its fully mature vines. Woodlands now has an annual production of 4000 cases, specializing in red wine. David’s son Stuart has been the winemaker at Woodlands since 2002.

In 2005 Woodlands won Trophies at the Margaret River Wine Show and the Winewise Small Vignerons Awards. Woodlands also won gold medals at the National Wine Show, the Margaret River Wine Show (2 golds), the Perth Royal Wine Show, the Rutherglen Wine Show (2 golds), the Winewise Small Vignerons Awards, and the Boutique Winemaker’s Awards.

Winemaking is minimalist at Woodlands, the emphasis being on small open ferments and excellent barrel selection. Woodlands still aims to emulate the great wines of Bordeaux, and today stands closer to its goal then ever before. The Wilyabrup sub-region is in the heart the Margaret River wine-growing region, and contains most of Margaret River’s oldest and most respected wineries.

Woodlands

In 1973 cuttings were taken from the Moss Wood vineyard located across the road, and an initial planting of eight acres was made in rows heading east-west along the contour of the property - 3 meters between rows and 1.75 meters between vines. The initial planting comprised 3 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon. A further 5 acres was planted between 1974 and 1976, comprising Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. The old block was completed in 1985, with 4 acres of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon planted. Subsequent plantings now sees Woodlands with a total of twenty six acres (ten hectares) of vines.

The soil at Woodlands is composed of 30cm of top soil, a bed of 30 cm of gravel extending to 60 cm of gravel and then a bed of white clay, ensuring excellent sub soil drainage for root development. Woodlands is located within its own valley, with slopes rising in each direction and the Woodlands Brook running through the centre. Woodlands vineyard is dry grown and maintained by hand. Attention in the vineyard includes cane pruning, bunch thinning, hand plucking the leaves around the fruit zone, crop thinning and hand picking.

"The quality of the grapes, with a priceless core of 6.8 ha of 30+ year old cabernet sauvignon, more recently joined by merlot, malbec, cabernet franc, pinot noir and chardonnay, has never been in doubt. Whatever the shortcomings of the 1990s, these days Woodlands is producing some spectacular wines in small quantities. The larger volume Cabernet Sauvignon is also of very high quality. Some behind the scenes consultancy advice has played its part, and Woodlands is now a major player in the top echelon of Margaret River producers. " -James Halliday

Woodlands