Parker Estate | Coonawarra, South Australia

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Coonawarra makes some of the most age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon in the world. Parker Estate makes some of the finest Coonawarra Cabernet.

Founded in 1985 by John and Faye Parker on a single conviction — that Australian Cabernet could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great estates of Bordeaux — the winery justified that ambition immediately: the debut 1988 vintage won the Penfold Hyland Trophy and announced itself to the country. The vineyards sit on Coonawarra’s celebrated terra rossa soils: a narrow strip of rich red loam over ancient limestone that delivers the perfect balance of concentration and finesse. Today, winemaker Andrew Fladd continues the tradition with the same focus on detail, patience, and site-specific quality.

Terra rossa soils are the key to understanding Coonawarra Cabernet — and why Parker Estate wines taste the way they do. The rich red loam sits over porous limestone that drains freely, keeping the vines regulated and the fruit precise. The Coonawarra strip is narrow — barely fifteen kilometres long and two wide — which means genuine terra rossa Cabernet is a genuinely limited thing. Parker Estate has farmed some of the best of it for nearly forty years.

We discovered the cool climate Cabernet Sauvignon and it was immediately obvious it would fit perfectly into a gap in our range that we didn't even know we had. Indeed since then we have found people love the depth of flavour allied with the lightness of fruit that makes this wine a winner.  Wherever you start with Parker Estate, you’re buying into a tradition of quiet excellence that goes all the way back to that 1988 debut.

 The Cool Climate series shows the fresher, more lifted side of Coonawarra: bright, elegant, and beautifully balanced. These are the bottles that keep us coming back, and the ones we recommend to anyone who thinks they already know what Australian red wine tastes like.