Taylors (Wakefield)

Where the Clare Valley's Scale and Ambition Meet

The Clare Valley does not produce volume wine. Its altitude, its diurnal temperature swings, and its narrow ribbon of sub-regions have always pointed producers toward precision over output. Within that framework, a range of estate sizes has emerged: small-batch specialist operations like Adelina Wines and Grosset at one end, and larger family-owned estates capable of producing across multiple tiers at the other. Taylors, trading internationally as Wakefield, belongs to the second group. Its estate on Winery Road in Auburn covers significant acreage, and its production spans a broad range of varietals and price points. That scope is not a dilution of intent — it reflects a different kind of Clare Valley ambition, one that prioritises consistency across volume alongside a premium tier that competes seriously with the region's recognised names.

The 2025 Pearl 3 Star Prestige award is the clearest available signal of where Taylors sits in the current peer set. Pearl ratings within the EP Club framework are reserved for producers that have demonstrated sustained quality across their range, not single-vintage outliers. For a winery of Taylors' size and distribution reach, maintaining that standard is considerably harder than for a small-production house, and the award reflects that reality.

Clare Valley in the Context of Australian Fine Wine

To understand what Taylors represents, it helps to understand what Clare Valley has become in the wider map of Australian wine. The region's Riesling programme is internationally referenced — Clare and Eden Valley share credit for establishing that Australian Riesling can age with the same structural integrity as German or Alsatian expressions. The steely, lime-driven style that the sub-regions here produce is not replicated elsewhere in Australia at the same consistency. Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon from Clare occupy a cooler, more restrained register than Barossa equivalents , less extractive heat, more defined tannin structure, better natural acidity. That profile has attracted producers across the spectrum, from single-vineyard boutiques to estates like Taylors that operate at a scale capable of supplying both domestic retail and export markets.

Peers within the valley worth cross-referencing include Kilikanoon, whose single-vineyard programme has built recognition in premium retail channels, Tim Adams Wines, which anchors its identity in Riesling and Semillon, and Jim Barry Wines, whose Armagh Shiraz has been one of the valley's benchmark reds for decades. Taylors operates across a wider tier spread than most of these names, which means its visitor experience and tasting room offer a broader portfolio overview , useful for those approaching Clare Valley wine systematically rather than hunting a specific cult label.

The Estate at Auburn

The address , 89A Winery Road, Auburn , places Taylors in the southern end of the Clare Valley, close to Auburn township, which functions as the entry point to the valley for visitors arriving from Adelaide. The estate sits within a working vineyard property, and the physical scale of the site is apparent on arrival: this is not a converted barn or a boutique cellar door wedged between two other properties. The setting communicates permanence, and for visitors arriving after a sequence of smaller cellar doors further north, the contrast registers immediately.

Auburn itself is worth a note. The town carries some of the oldest stone architecture in regional South Australia, and the surrounding terrain shifts from relatively flat farmland at the valley's southern edge to more refined, creek-cut terrain further north. Visiting across multiple cellar doors in a single day is standard Clare Valley practice, and Taylors' position makes it a logical starting or finishing point depending on direction of travel. For planning the broader Clare Valley visit, see our full Clare Valley wineries guide, and for accommodation context, our full Clare Valley hotels guide.

What the Portfolio Communicates

Taylors' range runs from entry-level varietals designed for accessible price points through to its premium and reserve tiers, where the estate's older vines and more selective viticulture concentrate. The regional identity that Clare Valley as a whole has built around cool-climate Riesling and structured red varieties runs through the portfolio at every level, though the degree of site specificity increases toward the upper tiers. For visitors to the cellar door, this spread is actually instructive: tasting across the range provides a cleaner read on how elevation, vintage variation, and vine age translate into the glass than a single-tier tasting would allow.

The international label , Wakefield , reflects the estate's export orientation. Taylors wine appears in UK, US, and Asian markets under the Wakefield name due to existing trademark registrations, and the dual branding occasionally generates confusion in international retail. In-country, Taylors is the name in use, and the Clare Valley wine trade treats both names as referring to the same producer without distinction. This is a practical detail worth knowing before cross-referencing purchase history against cellar door tastings.

Placing Taylors in the Wider Australian Wine Conversation

Clare Valley operates within a South Australian wine corridor that also includes Barossa, Eden Valley, McLaren Vale, and Coonawarra. Each has a distinct identity, and producers within each region tend to define themselves partly in contrast to their neighbours. Clare's cool-climate positioning differentiates it from Barossa in particular, and estates like Taylors have historically communicated that contrast through the restraint and longevity of their premium reds. For comparison with producers in other Australian regions pursuing similar scale-and-quality balance, Angove Family Winemakers in Renmark and All Saints Estate in Rutherglen offer instructive parallels from Riverland and Rutherglen respectively, while international equivalents such as Abadía Retuerta in Sardón de Duero suggest how family-scale estate winemaking at premium ambition levels plays out across different continental wine traditions.

For Clare Valley visitors building a wider regional itinerary, the valley's dining scene, bars, and experience providers round out the visit considerably. See our full Clare Valley restaurants guide, our full Clare Valley bars guide, and our full Clare Valley experiences guide for current coverage. Other wineries further afield worth cross-referencing for context: Archie Rose Distilling Co in Sydney and Aberlour in Aberlour each illustrate how regional identity anchors premium producer positioning in very different production contexts.

Planning Your Visit

Taylors' cellar door is located at 89A Winery Road, Auburn SA 5451. As one of the valley's larger operations, the property is accessible without the advance booking requirements that apply to some of the smaller boutique producers in the region. That said, weekend visits to Clare Valley cellar doors during South Australian public holidays and harvest season (roughly February through April) attract higher foot traffic across the valley, and arriving early in the day is advisable if you intend to cover multiple producers. Current opening hours, tasting formats, and any current vertical or reserve tasting programmes should be confirmed directly with the estate, as these details fall outside the verified data available here. Phone and website details are not currently listed in our database. For a structured view of the broader Clare Valley producer map, return to our full Clare Valley wineries guide.