Family owned and operated for over 50 years
The original Woodstock property was named by English settlers, after their hometown of Woodstock, near Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. The Townsend Family, received a Crown Lease for the property in 1905, built a home with a brick well and established the estate as a vineyard and orchard. It has been known as Woodstock ever since.
Woodstock Estate
Established in 1905 by the Townsend Family, Woodstock was named after their hometown in England. The word Woodstock had an old english meaning of 'a clearing in the woods'.
The Townsend family established a small home and established the estate as a vineyard and orchard where they tended the land until 1973 when the Collett family purchased the property.
In 1988, the Collett family purchased the adjoining vineyard to Woodstock, from Murray and Duclie Vick who had been living in a house atop the hill above Woodstock Estate. Murray and Duclie came to McLaren Vale in the 1960s and at the time of purchasing the vineyards, understood the oldest Shiraz and Grenache vines were approximately 100 years old. Over the ensuing 20 years they continued to nurture and care for these ancient vines until passing the custodianship to the Collett family.
The Vineyards
With the oldest vines on the original Woodstock property dating back to 1905, and the Shiraz and Grenache plantings at the top of the property dating back to the 1860's, Woodstock is home to some of the regions oldest surviving vineyards.
Over the course of the 50 years since the Collett family have been custodians of Woodstock Estate, they continued to plant new vineyards across the property, including Riesling in 1974, Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1970s and 1980s, and more recently small plantings of Mataro, Montepulciano and Fiano have been planted across the property.
Today, Woodstock's vineyards are certified sustainable, and with warm climate varieties suited to the Mediterranean climate in McLaren Vale, majority of our grapes are dry grown, with minimal intervention.
Winemaking
To produce wines of intensity and balance, the choice of harvest time is crucial. The optimum harvesting window of opportunity to ensure the berries are picked at their best is often only a day or two for early ripening whites and less than a week for the reds.
Vintage usually commences in late February with the whites the March for Shiraz, then Cabernet Sauvignon and lastly Grenache and Montepulciano. Mechanical harvesting during the night is preferred so the grapes can be picked promptly at their optimum ripeness in the cool of the night to preserve natural flavours.
Our vineyard and winery managers work closely during harvest to ensure the grapes are crushed immediately when delivered.
On arrival at the winery, grapes are immediately weighed, sampled, tasted and tested. The best Italian crushers have been specifically chosen for their gentleness and ability to vary in process depending on fruit harvest method and the wine style desired. White juice is drained and cold settled to remove solids, flesh and pulp before decanting or “racking” to fermentation vessels.
Reds are cold soaked for 24 hours before fermentation with their grape-skins for at least five days, mixed twice daily. The juice is mixed with skins which float on top. This helps cool the fermenting skins and to extract their colour and flavour.