The producer
Founded in 1971 at Murrumbateman, 40km north of Canberra City, by Irish scientist John Kirk who saw similarities in climate and topography to some of the great vineyard areas of Europe. This was the start of what is now the Canberra Wine District. The Clonakilla property was named after the family’s farm in County Clare, Ireland, and initially dabbled with the standard Australian blend of Cabernet and Syrah, and later in 1986 – unusually - Viognier for white wines.
After a trip to the Rhone, next generation winemaker Tim Kirk experimented with the Cote Rotie co-fermentation of a small amount of Viognier with Syrah. As they say, “that was that” - acclaim was immediate and widespread with one scribe penning “a patch of Cote Rotie near Canberra”, another “consistently one of Australia’s best red wines”. Syrah and Murrummbateman was a match made in heaven and that little dollop of Viognier created that little bit of extra magic that raised Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier into the top echelon of Australian red wines. Clonakilla quickly became one of Australia’s iconic wineries.
The wine
The Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier has won and extraordinary array of top awards from the very few shows in which it has been entered. A wine of depth and richness but with exceptional silkiness and finesse. A wine that invites favourable comparison with the similarly blended Cote Roties.
