The Vineyards

The Explorer Estate range of wines is proudly sourced from Australia's finest wine growing regions including the Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale, all in South Australia and South Eastern Australia.

Barossa Valley

The Barossa has been the beating red heart of the Australian wine industry.

Wherever you go around the world and ask anybody, the first thing that comes to mind when they think of Australian wine will almost certainly be “Barossa Valley” (and Barossa Shiraz in particular).

Climate

The Barossa Valley climate is one of hot summers and mild winters, with wide variations in daily temperatures. The frequent sunshine, combined with the lower humidity and rainfall, see the Barossa Valley considered a continental climate, ideal for full-bodied red wines, brilliant fortified wines, and robust white wines.

Soils

The soil of the Barossa Valley ranges from clay loam, through to more sandy soils. The soils vary widely but are generally classified as low-fertility. Root growth and vigour is restricted through acidity increases in the subsoils.

Our vineyard practices include minimal irrigation, and have a focus on hand pruning, that results in low fruit yields, enabling us to achieve concentrated varietal flavours in our wines.
 

Clare Valley

Nestled within the South Australian bush, the vineyards of the Clare Valley are some of Australia’s finest. The roots of the Clare Valley’s winemaking history have been growing for more than 150 years.

Climate 

 The Clare Valley region faces a moderately continental climate, with hot summer days, cool to cold nights and features a cool afternoon breeze even in summer. This works towards allowing the fruit to ripen more evenly and slowly. The winter-spring rainfall and relatively low humidity assist towards lowering the risk of fungal disease.

Soils

 The varied terrain of the Clare Valley results in a wide variation of soil types, ranging from the classic terra rossa red topsoil over limestone that is found on the slopes, to brown grey over basement rock, found on the valley floor.

The soils of the Clare Valley require minimum amounts of supplementary irrigation during the summer months, with much of the area being free draining and able to hold enough water to subsist through the dry weather.

McLaren Vale

The most profound expression of terroir from McLaren Vale comes from the Shiraz grape. At their best these wines are almost black in colour with a paint-like cling to the glass.

Climate

McLaren Vale has a Mediterranean climate and sees much climatic variation as a result of the cooling influence of the nearby ocean, which also results in the region seeing little frost or drought. Summer rainfall is low and supplementary irrigation becomes essential.

Soils

The varied terrain of McLaren Vale results in a wide range of soil types including terra rossa soils, light loam over clay, rendzina soils and soldolic. Most soils in the region are well suited to grape growing.

Our wines from the McLaren Vale region are richly coloured, with excellent depth, structure and lend themselves to ageing.  

South Eastern Australia

South Eastern Australia is a large zone of wine comes from Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, part of Queensland and South Australia States.