Xanadu Vineyard
What makes a great vineyard?
Climate and soil, but more than anything it’s the determination, dedication and vision of the people who operate it.
Margaret River is surrounded by the ocean on three sides. Two oceans in fact, the Indian and Southern Oceans. Warm growing seasons with cooling sea breezes create the perfect maritime climate. The soil is predominantly gravelly or gritty sandy loam formed directly from the underlying granite and gneissic rock. Ancient soils, waiting countless millennia for the first planting in 1977.
Xanadu is one of the oldest vineyards in Margaret River, with 85 hectares now planted with our key varieties, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The grapes are harvested from the end of February to mid-April.
Fruit sourcing and the harvesting are perhaps the two most important decisions to be made in the life of a wine (apart, of course, from who you share it with). We work all year to get the fruit just right. We have enough confidence in the vineyard, as well as our knowledge of the soil and the climate, to allow it to reach its full potential. In other words, we resist the impulse to harvest at the first hint of weather pressure.
Then the real work begins.