Its adaptability to different soils and climates, and malleability in the wine room make Chardonnay one of the most popular and ubiquitous grapes. Responsible for some of the world’s most thrilling white wines wines including Champagne, it is in its homeland of Burgundy with villages such as Chablis, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet that producers craft arguably some of the world’s finest wines. Chardonnay is also synonymous with California, where it can display riper, tropical fruit flavors, rather than the more restrained stone fruit and steely, mineral qualities often associated with its Old World and cool climate counterparts. While there are terrific fresh and vibrant Chardonnays made solely using stainless steel, the grape also knits terrifically well with oak, lending greater depth and weight in the form of a nutty, toasty and somtimes buttery component.
Accounting for nearly half of the country’s production, South Australia is one of the most important wine producing regions and consequently reflects the majority of our selection of Australian wine. Production is focused in the south eastern corner around Adelaide where the sub-regions Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, and Clare Valley are located. Further south in the state is the Limestone Coast Zone where the cooler sub-regions of Padthaway and Coonawarra produce some of the country’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Padthaway township was established in 1952 and is situated on the Riddoch Highway, 300 km south of Adelaide.
Today, Padthaway is a thriving small community in the Limestone Coast. The many farm industries, including vines, onions, cropping, mixed grazing and irrigation of pasture seeds provide employment for a population of around 220, which in turn supports a primary school of 45 students.
Most of the original soldier settlers have passed on their land to the next generation, many of who still farm the land to this day.
Padthaway thrives on locally run events and groups including football, netball, tennis, golf, cricket, lawn bowls, ambulance and country fire services and religious organisations. These community groups make Padthaway a very close knit township, well supported by many volunteers.
The local community is serviced by a General Store/Post Office, Deli, Mechanical and Engineering workshop, agricultural contractors, freight companies and a tyre repairer, which are all owned and operated by local families. There are also two large agribusiness companies operating within the town.
White wine is a wine whose color can be pale-yellow, yellow-green, and yellow-gold colored. The wine is produced from a variety of grape varieties. The flavor and color comes from the juice of the grape and sometimes the skin of the grape as well. Interestingly, not all white wine comes from white grapes. Some select red grapes are used as in Champagne.
