Willunga 100, McLaren Vale Shiraz

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. Renae Hirsch is now at the winemaking helm and, in the words of Marcus Ellis (Halliday’s Wine Companion), “makes some of this country’s finest wines”.

Willunga 100 sources fruit 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 one-hectare, centenarian 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. These unoaked wines come from sites that are only eight minutes apart by car and the winemaking is largely the same, yet they are markedly different in style. The ‘Smart Vineyard’ is elegant with an aromatic lift that comes more from the vineyard’s proximity to the Adelaide Hills than from the loamy, silty soils. While the ‘Trott Vineyard’ is a warmer site which produces a more muscular wine, the Maslin sand soils in Blewitt Springs act as a trigger on Grenache’s aromatics and are enhanced by 10% whole bunch in the ferment.

Willunga 100 purchased the ‘Blind Spot’ vineyard in 2019. This 19-hectare site, in the heart of Blewitt Springs, has close to eight hectares of old, bush vine Grenache. This vineyard is the source of Willunga 100’s Grenache and Grenache Rosé. The former has about 13% whole bunch in the ferment, which lifts the naturally aromatic fruit, while the latter is pale, dry and, as they say in Australia, ‘smashable’. Matthew Jukes recently declared it “the world’s greatest value elegant rosé” in his 2026 100 Best Australian Wines Report. Willunga 100 also produce 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’ is sourced from 90-year-old Shiraz 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 latest addition to the range is the ‘Sheer Madness’, a Grenache Shiraz Mataro blend aged for 18 months in French oak puncheons and hogsheads. The name is a nod to Percy Moritz, one of the first people to plant vines in Blewitt Springs in 1921. In correspondence, his parents described this as “sheer madness”, but as it happens it was a savvy move, as vines are the only crop that will grow on the sandy soils here.

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. Success continued in 2025 when the Grenache 2023 took home the Prime Minister’s Trophy for ‘Champion Wine of the Show’ at Australia’s National Wine Show. Yet more trophies followed at the Sydney Royal Wine Show, where Willunga 100 received the ‘Best Small Wine Producer’ Trophy and 2024 ‘Trott’ was awarded the ‘Best Grenache’ Trophy both here and at the 2026 National Wine Show. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in November 2025 Willunga 100 were crowned winners of the d'Arry Osborn Award at the McLaren Vale Wine Show, in recognition of their outstanding work to champion Grenache.