BRAND INFORMATION Welcome
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BRAND INFORMATION Welcome Thank you for your interest in Willunga 100 and McLaren Vale wines. This booklet is designed to give you all the key information you need to sell our wine, or to become a brand ambassador. We look forward to working with you! About Us Willunga 100 was founded by David Gleave MW and John Ratcliffe, two Australian wine devotees passionate about making outstanding wines from McLaren Vale. Before our first vintage in 2005, David and John explored McLaren Vale and came across plots of 50-year-old Grenache vines. At the time, most of the wine produced from this fruit was destined for blending as there was little demand for top quality Grenache. David and John decided this had to change, so they made these vines their focus and gave them the attention they deserved. We haven’t looked back since. The Tree The tree featured on our bottles is an old River Red Gum that stands tall over the vineyards. It was well over a hundred years old when the first vines were planted in Australia in the 1840’s. The Willunga 100 Name We take our name from the historic ‘Hundred’ of Willunga that was established in 1839, only three years after the settlement of South Australia. At the time, 100 households were needed to occupy an area in order to qualify for a place on the map, this was called a ‘Hundred’. Today, the Hundred of Willunga is where much of our fruit comes from. Our Winemakers Mike is a renowned winemaker with over 40 years’ experience and extensive knowledge of South Australia’s finest wine regions. A winemaking graduate of the world-renowned Roseworthy College, Mike began his career at Angoves Winery followed by 13 years at Southcorp Wines. Here, his long involvement with Southcorp’s portfolio of iconic brands such as Seaview, Penfolds, Wynn’s Coonawarra Estate, Lindemans, Seppelts, Coldstream Hills and more, culminated with six years in the role of Group Red Winemaker. During this time, Mike was twice awarded the prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy and was an integral part of a highly successful winemaking team producing some of Southcorp’s most highly regarded wines. Mike left Southcorp in 1997 to pursue his own venture and to help establish Boar’s Rock Winery in McLaren Vale where he was a Mike Farmilo founding shareholder and Principal Winemaker. He is now one of the most sought-after independent winemaking Winemaker consultants in McLaren Vale. Tim is a star of the Australian wine industry and well-known on the winemaking and wine-judging circuit. Raised on a winery site in the Barossa Valley (Leo Buring’s Chateau Leonay, now Richmond Grove), Tim graduated from Roseworthy in 1976, joining Thomas Hardy and Sons as a winemaker, where he progressed quickly to Group Technical Manager and Production Manager of BRL Hardy. After more than 20 years with Hardy’s, Tim undertook a new challenge, holding the position of Managing Director and Winemaker at Wirra Wirra between 2001 and 2007. Tim is a respected wine judge with Tim James over 34 years’ experience gained in both Australia and New Zealand, including many years as Director of the Australian Wine Research Institute. Tim joined Willunga 100 in 2010, bringing with him his invaluable expertise of McLaren Vale, and Consultant consistently raising the bar in terms of quality and leadership. Skye is a passionate and established winemaker who has spent much of her career working in South Australia for wineries such as Hardy’s Tintara, Penny’s Hill, Wirra Wirra, Shaw & Smith and Project Wine. We knew her extensive knowledge of the McLaren Vale region would be an asset to our team. Skye took time to broaden her experience overseas, working vintages in Burgundy and Languedoc-Roussillon in France, and Canada’s chilly Okanagan region. After many vintages both here and abroad, she gave up the nomadic vintage lifestyle to put down roots in Port Willunga with her husband Skye Salter Charlie. Skye and Charlie also have their own wine brand, Paralian Wines. Winemaker Our Vineyards Nestled between the Mount Lofty Ranges and the white, sandy beaches of the Gulf of St Vincent, McLaren Vale is just 45 minutes south of Adelaide and known as the birthplace of South Australian wine. Today it has over 7,500 hectares under vine, 90% of which are red varieties. The Mediterranean climate in McLaren Vale is a big draw card, and the soils are among the oldest in the world estimated at over 500 million years. The resulting low vigour and old vines combine to produce low yields and stunning, concentrated fruit. Each sub-zone provides a unique diversity in flavour, which we aim to showcase in our various grenache wines. Our Vineyards Blewitt Springs Clarendon Willunga 100 has been a pioneer in unoaked, single vineyard Grenache in McLaren Vale for the last 15 Tucked in the gullies on the Onkaparinga River, Clarendon years. Its Blewitt Springs Grenache won the ‘Best Grenache Trophy’ at the McLaren Vale Wine Show in is a beautiful village rich in heritage. Willunga 100 produces 2015 and 2016. With cooler temperatures and moderating afternoon sea breezes, the grapes grown their The Hundred Grenache, Clarendon from this area, here enjoy a long and even ripening season. Vintage in Blewitt Springs is often two to three weeks which comes off the Smart Vineyard. It won the ‘Best later than the rest of the district, giving the fruit a few extra weeks to ripen with a greater depth of Two-Year-Old or Older Grenache Trophy’ in 2017. flavour* The Smart Vineyard The Blind Spot Vineyard This vineyard has dry grown Grenache bush vines which The Blind Spot Vineyard was bought in March of 2019 and is the source of Willunga 100’s Grenache, were planted in 1923 on ancient loam soil over red-brown Grenache Rose’, and occasionally their flagship wine, The Tithing Grenache. The vineyard has some clay and bedrock. It’s situated 220m above sea level on OH-60 Shiraz vines which go toward a limited release Shiraz. the moderate to steep hills of the Clarendon Onkaparinga Gorge. The 19-hectare site, situated on Moritz Road in the heart of Blewitt Springs, has close to eight hectares of old, bush trained Grenache. The vineyard is situated within the ‘Hundred of Willunga’, the area which was the inspiration for the company name. “We’ve taken fruit off the vineyard for several years, so we know just how good it is,” says winemaker Mike Farmilo. “In fact, our 2016 ‘Tithing’ Grenache, one of the best wines we’ve made in the past 15 vintages, came off this site”. Willunga 100 founder, David Gleave said of the purchase: “The success enjoyed by Willunga 100 has been built on the quality of fruit we source from our growers, the best of whom we will continue working with. As our business has grown, we’ve been looking for our own vineyard for a couple of years and knew exactly where we wanted to be. When this site came up, its location on Blewitt Springs sands made for a quick decision.” Trott Vineyard The dry grown Grenache bush vines for this site were planted in 1952 on ancient sandy soil over a clay and ironstone base. Owned by local viticulturist Sue Trott, the Trott Vineyard is situated 210m above sea level on the moderate to steep hills of Blewitt Springs next to the Onkaparinga Gorge. The fruit from Willunga 100’s award-winning single vineyard wine The Hundred Grenache, Blewitt Springs, is sourced from this vineyard. *Source credits: Wine Australia. McLaren Vale Guide. Sue Trott, Five Geese Wines. Our Wines Wines Premium Range Flagship Wine The Tithing Grenache The Tithing Grenache forms part of the limited release range. Only made in the best vintages from small parcels of premium old dry grown bush vine grapes from iconic vineyards within the region. The Tithing showcases the influence of oak and barrel maturation to mirror the old-world style of Grenache that can be achieved with McLaren Vale fruit. The handpicked fruit is open fermented at high temperatures with regular pump overs and plunging down to ensure optimum early extraction. This regime lessens towards the end of ferment ensuring the delicate aromatics of Grenache are retained. The wine is matured using a mixture of new and seasoned French oak puncheons which add complexity and mid-palate richness. The power and concentration of this wine sees it hold its own against its old-world peers such as Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Priorat and Roussilon. Bottled under screwcap to ensure freshness and longevity this wine will delight for years to come. RRP $55 p/bottle Single Vineyard Wines The ‘ Hundred’ range exemplifies the The 'Hundred' range exemplifies the diversity in style that can be achieved with diversity in style that can be achieved with McLaren Vale Grenache by focusing on McLaren Vale Grenache by focusing on single vineyard wines from some of the single vineyard wines from some of the region’s finest sub-zones. The dry grown region's finest sub-zones. The dry grown bush vines for this single vineyard Grenache bush vines for this Single Vineyard were planted in 1952 on ancient sandy soil Grenache, were planted in 1923 on ancient is over a clay and ironstone base. The Trott loam soil over red-brown clay and vineyard is situated 21Om above sea level, bedrock. The vineyard is situated 220m on the moderate to steep hills of Blewitt above sea level, on the moderate to steep Springs next to the Onkaparinga Gorge. hills of the Clarendon Onkaparinga Gorge.