Thorn-Clarke Barossa Milton Park Chardonnay 2002
-
Robert
Parker
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This vineyard is located at Mt Crawford (Eden Valley), one of South Australia's consistently coolest grape growing sites. Citrus, lime, sweet melon fruit, with hints of new French oak combine with a creamy lingering finish to create a fine example of this great variety. Inhibiting malolactic fermentation has preserved crisp natural acids which highlight the varietal fruit of this wine.
Winemaking: Crushed and de-stemmed then pressed using a membrane press. Pressings kept separate from free run then fined and re-blended back to the free run. Fermented using French yeast at 12 - 15°C. The ferment was very long and took 5-6 weeks. The light fluffy lees were re-incorporated to the wine and mixed every 2 weeks to add mouth feel and structure. The wine was racked from lees after 4 months, filtered and bottled.
"The delicious, fruity 2002 Chardonnay Milton Park exhibits plenty of tropical fruit along with peach and honeysuckle. Medium-bodied and fresh, it is best drunk over the next year." - Wine Advocate
Professional Ratings
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Husband and wife, David and Cheryl Clarke both have deep family roots in the Barossa. Cheryl Clarke's family, the Thorn's, have been grape growers in the Barossa since the 1870's.
David Clarke's family were pioneers in the Barossa as well but most famously in the mining of gold from the Barossa Goldfields. One of his ancestors was James Goddard who was the responsible for opening the Lady Alice gold mine in the Barossa goldfields and which was the largest gold mine in South Australia at the time. It has been David's love of the wine industry that saw the planting of the Kabininge vineyard outside of Tanunda in 1987. The planting of the Kabininge vineyard represented the start of a deeper involvement by the family in the Barossa wine industry.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.