The Clairault Estate wines are handcrafted and specially selected from the oldest vines, now in their 30th year of production. Yields can be as low as two tonnes per acre. Chief Winemaker, Will Shields, ensures that only the best parcels of fruit are used. Only free run juice is used for the whites, with natural settling and 100% barrel fermentation for the Chardonnay and Semillon.
The reds spend a minimum of ten days on skins, in small open fermenters. Placing individual parcels of fruit in a number of small open fermenters allows the maintenance of unique characteristics of small sections of the vineyard, creating greater variety for the blending process. A cap management programme, by racks and returns, allows the extraction of softer tannins and creates air into the ferments.
