The family-owned Thorn-Clarke winery derives its name from two long-time Barossa families. Six generations have been involved in the region’s wine industry. The winery owners are David and Cheryl Clarke (nee Thorn). Their son, Sam, is manager of the winery. Cheryl's brother, David Thorn, manages the Mount Crawford and Kabininge vineyards for Thorn-Clarke Wines. Her father, Ron Thorn, has one of the oldest Shiraz vineyards in Australia, dating to 1854. The vineyard has been in the Thorn family since the 1870s. David Clarke’s family were pioneers in the Barossa as well but most famously in the mining of gold from the Barossa gold fields. One of his ancestors, James Goddard, was the responsible for opening the Lady Alice gold mine, the largest gold mine in South Australia at the time.

Thorn-Clarke produces several different lines of wine from their four vineyard sites. The Terra Barossa (Sandpiper in Australia) line represents their value wines. The Chardonnay comes from the Eden Valley, the cooler ranges above the Barossa Valley floor. Because 2008 was a very warm year, the harvest was completed in a short period, and the resulting wines have loads of upfront fruit and a rich mouth feel. The grapes were crushed, destemmed, and then lightly pressed (only once) using a membrane press. French yeast were used in the cool (54-59 degrees), slow fermentation to retain all the natural flavors of the grape. A portion was aged in French oak for a short time. The wine shows a light straw color and a nose of some complexity with peach and nectarine fruits, some barrel ferment character, and hints of clove and cardamon. This is a medium weight Chardonnay with melon and citrus character. It is balanced nicely with good acidity, and there is an oatmeal-like character contributing to the rich mouth feel. The lengthy finish is mostly citrus. It would be great with Chicken Tortellini Salad.