Founded in 1977 by Irish-born Dr. John Lagan, Xanadu Wines takes its name from the mythical city of Xanadu, reflecting the founders’ vision of creating a vineyard paradise in the remote Margaret River region of Western Australia, now recognized as one of Australia’s premier wine regions. The estate’s vineyards lie just a few miles from the Indian Ocean, where the cool maritime climate and gravelly loam soils produce wines of precision, freshness, and minerality. The 2021 Vinework Chardonnay showcases the Gin Gin clone (known as the Mendoza clone in other parts of the world), a distinctive clone that has become iconic in Western Australia, particularly in Margaret River. Renowned for yielding wines of intense concentration and complex texture, the Gin Gin clone is believed to have originated from cuttings brought from UC Davis in the 1950s or ’60s and was first propagated at the Western Australian Department of Agriculture’s research station in Gingin (north of Perth) — hence its local nickname. The vines produce small, loose clusters with a high proportion of “hen and chicken” berries — a mix of large and tiny grapes within the same bunch — giving a higher skin-to-juice ratio and resulting in wines of remarkable flavor concentration and depth. The wine was fermented and aged for 9 months in French oak barrels (24% new), with regular lees stirring, though malolactic fermentation was blocked, leading to a racy and fresh style of Chardonnay.