Will Shields

Will's Story

My family owned a winery in the Hunter Valley, NSW, so I was around the process of growing, making and selling wines from a young age. Going on to study Oenology seemed like a natural progression. With degree in hand I flew the coop to greener pastures, namely Margaret River.

Winemaking is a very satisfying job in that you are physically involved in not just one part of a process but the whole manufacturing cycle, from the planning and liaising with the vineyard manager through to operating the press, digging out red fermenters, doing lab work and tasting trials, driving a forklift and sometimes mind numbing hours on a bottling line and then the final step of showing the wines to a sommelier or bottle shop manager.

We are striving to be as sustainable and organic as we can here at Clairault. We started down the path of looking after the soil and the life within the soil about four years ago, so not very long, but the results we have seen have been great in terms of soil, vine health and importantly fruit flavour. Each year we learn more and keep progressing.

Will's pearls of winemaking wisdom:

• Do all the small things right
• Don’t be rushed or pressured into making a bad decision, as the consequences can be expensive and hard to sell
• Remain true to your ideals
• Don’t over complicate
• Don’t reinvent the wheel