Willunga 100, McLaren Vale Grenache

Willunga 100 has focused on old-vine Grenache in McLaren Vale since its first vintage in 2005. They made their first single-vineyard wine in 2009 and have since helped pioneer a fresher, more lifted style that highlights the sensitivity of Grenache to site in the Blewitt Springs and Clarendon sub-zones.

Willunga 100 has sourced fruit since 2013 from two of the most fabled vineyards in McLaren Vale, Sue Trott’s 70-year-old site in Blewitt Springs and the Smart family’s century-old one-hectare vineyard in Clarendon. “When we started buying fruit from Sue Trott and the late Bernie Smart, nobody else wanted it. Today, there is a queue stretching all the way to Adelaide to buy grapes from these sites,” says part-owner David Gleave.

The same winemaking techniques are used for both wines. While 10% of the Trott grapes are retained as whole bunch to lend aromatics to a warmer site, the Smart grapes are destemmed but not crushed, the aim being to enhance the perfumes of this more elegant site. The rest of the winemaking is identical: about 12 days on skins in small open-top fermenters with gentle punching down and malolactic in tank, followed by ageing on lees in stainless steel for 12 months before bottling. These unoaked wines come from sites that are only 8 minutes apart by car, yet they are markedly different in style. In Clarendon, the aromatic lift comes more from the proximity to the Adelaide Hills rather than from the loamy, silty soils, while in Blewitt Springs, the Maslin sand soils act as a trigger on Grenache’s aromatics.

Willunga 100 purchased the ‘Blind Spot’ vineyard in 2019. This 19-hectare site, in the heart of Blewitt Springs on Maslin sands, has close to eight hectares of old, bush-trained Grenache. This vineyard is the source of Willunga 100’s Grenache and Grenache Rosé, both of which are single-vineyard wines. The former has about 13% whole bunch in the 2024 vintage, which lifts the naturally aromatic fruit of Grenache grown on Maslin sand, while the latter is pale, dry and, as they say in Australia, ‘smashable’. From the 2023 vintage, Willunga 100 released two single vineyard wines from the Blind Spot vineyard, the ‘Blind Spot’ Grenache and ‘Blind Spot Moritz Block’ Shiraz. Awarded 95 points and Gold in James Halliday’s Wine Companion, the ‘Blind Spot’ Grenache is described, alongside Trott and Smart, as another fine example of single site Grenache: “The clarity of making is the same, with each speaking of site, and all three pure, lithe and vibrant, but ‘Blind Spot’ presents as the slightly more brooding of the trio‘. The `Blind Spot Moritz Block’ Shiraz is sourced from 13 rows of 90-year-old vines. The inaugural 2023 vintage was awarded an impressive 18 points by Julia Harding MW, who described it as reminiscent of Morey-St-Denis and “more Burgundy than Rhône, demolishing any tired stereotypes of beefy Australian Shiraz.”

Fruit for the Grenache Blanc was sourced predominantly from one of Sue Trott’s vineyards that lies east of McLaren Flat on a slightly elevated site. The wine was fermented in stainless steel (70%) to retain freshness and used French puncheons (30%) to add texture. Aged on lees for four months before bottling to enhance this texture, the wine displays beautiful vibrancy and offers excellent value for money.

The focus on single sites has brought significant critical acclaim to Willunga 100. The 2023 ‘Smart’ triumphed at the 2024 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards, winning the ‘Best Grenache’ Trophy and was also shortlisted for the legendary Jimmy Watson trophy. Success continued in 2025 when Willunga 100 Grenache 2023 took home the Prime Minister’s Trophy for ‘Champion Wine of the Show’ at Australia’s National Wine Show. This followed a double trophy win at the Sydney Royal Wine Show, where 2024 `Trott` was awarded the ‘Best Grenache’ Trophy and Willunga 100 received the ‘Best Small Wine Producer’ Trophy. As Matthew Jukes commented in his 100 Best Australian Wines Report 2025, “I would like to know if anyone else has magicked up a portfolio with this number of nail-bitingly dramatic wines in the blink of an eye!"