Our Story

Background

John and Faye Parker established Parker Estate in 1985, planting the Abbey Vineyard with Reynell Selection Cabernet vines. These are original vines sourced from Bordeaux in the 1800’s, before they were lost to France forever due to phylloxera. Over the journey of four decades of ‘winemaking without compromise’, Parker Estate has achieved numerous wine show medals, trophies and accolades, including the top Five Red Star rating by James Halliday.

History, Cool Climate & Sacred Geology

Considered the founder of Coonawarra as a wine region, John Riddoch began planting Shiraz, Cabernet and Pinot Noir vines in 1891, based on the recommendation of his friend and renowned viticulturist Thomas Hardy, great-great-grandfather of Parker Estate Chief Winemaker Andrew Hardy. One of Australia’s first and finest cool climate wine regions, the maritime influence of the Southern Ocean exposes the district to even greater cooling due to the seasonal upwelling of dark blue water streams from Antarctica. At 1492 Growing Degree Days (GDD), Coonawarra is slightly cooler than Bordeaux, and significantly more so than the Napa Valley and Margaret River regions. Above all, Coonawarra is known for its 27km long and 2km wide cigar-shaped outcrop of ancient Terra Rossa soils which rest over a hard limestone cap. Below this lies an aquifer which was once an ancient seabed. Today the combination of the aquifer, cool climate and free draining Terra Rossa soils make this unique location ideal for the highest standards of wine-growing.