News

Our Blewitt Springs 'The Hundred' Grenache has been highly decorated across past vintages, and the 2018 is off to the same start. It received the ‘TOP GOLD’ MEDAL from The Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2020 as part of the 'Grenache, 2018 vintage or older' class. The judges commented: “A strong class, top wines show diversity in style. Bright and delicious with fruit intensity”.

The Royal Adelaide Wine Show is the most prestigious wine show in Australia, featuring over 2,500 wines from over 300 wineries across the country.

Wines are judged by a panel of esteemed judges from across Australia over four days, to determine medal and trophy winners.

The ' Hundred' range exemplifies the diversity in style that can be achieved with McLaren Vale Grenache by focusing on single vineyard wines from some of the region's finest sub-zones.

The dry grown bush vines for this single vineyard Grenache were planted in 1952 on ancient sandy soil is over a clay and ironstone base. The Trott vineyard is situated 210m above sea level, on the moderate to steep hills of Blewitt Springs next to the Onkaparinga Gorge.

Fruit is hand-harvested and whole berry sorted, then vinified in open fermenters and gently basket pressed. The result is a vibrant and complex wine that is a pure expression of both site and variety.

The people behind Grenache specialist Willunga 100 have bought its first vineyard in McLaren Vale for an undisclosed price. 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 name given to the new venture by founders David Gleave and John Ratcliffe when they first started producing wines in McLaren Vale in 2005.

“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 has pioneered unoaked, single vineyard Grenache in McLaren Vale. Its Blewitt Springs Grenache, made with fruit from Sue Trott’s vineyard, won ‘Best Grenache Trophy’ at the McLaren Vale Wine Show in 2015 and 2016, while the Clarendon Grenache, which comes off the Smart vineyard, won the ‘Best Two Year Old or Older Grenache Trophy’ in 2017.

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.

“Our aim is simple,” continues Gleave. “We plan to invest in the vineyard to see if we can improve upon the quality of the already outstanding fruit it has been producing,” continued Gleave. “After 15 vintages, it is nice to be able to give Willunga 100 a home.”

For further information, please contact Zoe Mallen:
zoe@willunga100.com
+61 406 532206

We are excited to announce that we have welcomed two new staff members to the WILLUNGA 100 team.

Meet Karen, who is based in the heart of the McLaren Vale Wine Region close to the home of WILLUNGA 100. Karen has over 19 years of experience within the Australian Wine Industry and is tasked with keeping our brand moving right from grape through to bottle.

Meet Zoe, she recently joined the team having moved across from the UK 6 years ago where she clocked up 20+ years in the wine industry. Zoe is responsible for making you love the WILLUNGA 100 portfolio of wines as much as we do and will be working closely with all Distribution Channels to spread the love far and wide.

Renowned Winemakers Mike Farmilo and Tim James remain at the forefront of our winemaking team in McLaren Vale and they continue to work their magic both in our vineyards and in the winery. When Mike surfaces from the demands of the forthcoming 2019 Vintage, we will be coaxing him out and about in a series of ‘Meet your Winemaker’ events - Stay tuned!

We did it again! Our 2015 The Hundred Grenache,Clarendon has taken out "Best Two-Year-Old Grenache" at the McLaren Vale Wine Show, plus 96 points in the recent James Halliday Grenache Challenge. This is the third year one of Grenache wines has won a trophy at the McLaren Vale Wine Show, last year being the The Hundred Grenache, Blewitt Springs.

These two wines now have the following accolades; 

2015 The Hundred Grenache, Clarendon
Gold Medal - 2016 McLaren Vale Wine Show
Trophy - Best Two-Year-Old Grenache - 2017 McLaren Vale Wine Show
96 Points - Grenache Challenge - James Halliday Wine Companion

2015 The Hundred Grenache, Blewitt Springs
Best One-Year-Old Grenache - McLaren Vale Wine Show 2016
Best Grenache - McLaren Vale Wine Show 2016
Trophy, Best Other Variety - National Wine Show 2016
Gold Medal - The Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2016
Gold Medal and 96 points at the Sydney Royal Wine Show
93 Points - Halliday Wine Companion.  

Willunga 100 had a very successful few weeks winning back-to-back awards at both the Royal Adelaide Wine Show and the McLaren Vale Wine Show. We love what we do so to receive awards such as these is the cherry on top.

Here's a list of the winners:

2015 The Hundred Grenache, Blewitt Springs
Best one year old Grenache, McLaren Vale Wine Show 2016
Best Grenache, McLaren Vale Wine Show 2016
Gold Medal, Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2016

2015 The Hundred Grenache, Clarendon
Gold Medal, McLaren Vale Wine Show 2016

2015 Tempranillo
Gold Medal, McLaren Vale Wine Show 2016

2016 Rose
Gold Medal, Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2016

Renowned UK critic and Grenache enthusiast Matthew Jukes has been a long-time fan of the Willunga 100 range. This year marks the second in a row that our Cabernet Shiraz has been included in his 100 Best Australian Wines report.

In addition, he has just included Willunga 100 McLaren Vale Grenache as one of his Top 100 Red Wines for Summer in The Daily Mail Weekend Magazine. He commented:

"One of the juiciest, most enthralling wines of the moment, this has an explosion of pipe smoke, rhubarb and mulberry pie scents on the nose (I’m not joking!) and a creamy, succulent palate. It could charm even the most hard-to-please wine lovers.”

We have enjoyed great success on this year’s show circuit and are very happy to share the news that two Willunga 100 wines have just won trophies at the prestigious McLaren Vale Wine Show. Our Cabernet Shiraz 2014 was awarded the trophy for Best McLaren Vale Cabernet Predominant Blend, while ‘The Hundred’ Grenache 2014 scooped the Best McLaren Vale Grenache trophy.

With judges including James Halliday and Huon Hooke, the McLaren Vale Wine Show’s mission is to “provide a vehicle for presenting McLaren Vale wines to ensure that the excellence of the varieties, viticulture, production, provenance and sub-regionality are celebrated” and we are thrilled that our wines have been recognised at the highest level on all these counts. Given the region’s reputation for producing Australia’s best Grenache, this particular category was, unsurprisingly, the most competitive at the Show…so for ‘The Hundred’ to be named top Grenache in McLaren Vale is a remarkable achievement.

The full list of our awards from this year’s show season is testament to the quality of our wines from the 2014 vintage:

2014 ‘The Hundred’ Grenache
Trophy for the Best McLaren Vale Grenache (McLaren Vale Wine Show 2015)

2014 Cabernet Shiraz
Trophy for the Best McLaren Vale Cabernet Predominant Blend (McLaren Vale Wine Show 2015)

2014 Tempranillo
Trophy for the Best Tempranillo of Show (Winewise Awards 2015)

2014 Grenache
Gold Medal (Winewise Awards 2015)

2014 Shiraz Viognier
Top Gold of its Class (Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2015)

2013 Shiraz Viognier
Gold Medal (New Zealand International Wine Show 2015)

2013 Cabernet Shiraz
Gold Medal (New Zealand International Wine Show 2015)

For more information about the McLaren Vale Wine Show and to see the full list of winners, visit http://mclarenvale.info/wine/wine-show/results/.

We are delighted to announce that Willunga 100 2014 Shiraz Viognier won a Gold Medal at the 2015 Royal Adelaide Wine Show. With 18.5 points, the Shiraz Viognier was the top-scorer in its category.

The Royal Adelaide Wine Show is one of Australia’s pre-eminent wine shows, with all wines judged blind across four days by the panel.