Willunga 100 McLaren Vale Cabernet/Shiraz 2022
Intense aromatics of dark cherry and cedar are complemented by tobacco and bay leaf notes. On the palate, there are flavours of rich blackcurrant and toasty oak. The fine tannin structure gives this wine a savoury finish.
The fruit for this wine was sourced from multiple sites across McLaren Vale, largely in the Tatachilla and Whites Valley subregions. The vineyards in Tatachilla are single cordon, trellis-trained vines planted on loamy soils over limestone. This area experiences cooling sea breezes which moderate the summer temperatures. The Whites Valley vineyards are also trellised single cordon vines and soil types are generally alluvial clay, sand and gravel.
Each parcel was fermented separately in open top, stainless steel fermenters. Regular pump overs and plunging ensured optimum extraction while maintaining fruit purity. After 10 to 14 days on skins, wines were basket-pressed to stainless steel tanks to complete alcoholic fermentation. The wines were then racked to French oak of which 10% was new, to undergo malolactic conversion and maturation before bottling.
| RRP | £16.99 |
| Bottle size | 75cl |
| Vintage | 2022 |
| Alcoholic strength | 14.5% |
| Country | Australia |
| Region | South Australia |
| Subregion | McLaren Vale |
| Grapes | Cabernet Sauvignon 59%, Shiraz 41% |
| Residual sugar (g/l) | 0.6 |
| Vegetarian | Yes |
| Vegan | Yes |
| Organic | No |
| Biodynamic | No |
| Closure | Screwcap |
| Winemaker | Renae Hirsch |
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.
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