It was 130 years ago this year that Adelaide state cricketer Robert Strangways Wigley built a winery, planted vines and started making wine under the Wirra Wirra name. A notable eccentric and habitual prankster with a proclivity for embarrassing his widely respected family, he was banished to McLaren Vale after commandeering a horse-drawn pie cart and taking it for a joy ride through the city streets.
Robert ran the winery until his death in 1926, after which it fell into disrepair. When vigneron Greg Trott bought it in 1969, all that remained were two ironstone walls and a slate fermenter. Using old photos as a guide, Greg rebuilt the historic cellars, and then, in 1970, used the fermenter to make his first wine.
As well as driving the development of McLaren Vale as a premium winegrowing region, Greg established Wirra Wirra (which means “among the gum trees” in the local indigenous Kaurna language) as an internationally acclaimed brand. After his death in 2005, the team – today helmed by chief winemaker Emma Wood – has continued to maintain Wirra Wirra’s reputation as a producer of world class wines.
Among its flagships are two classic McLaren Vale varietal wines, the RSW Shiraz, named after Robert Wigley, and the Angelus Cabernet Sauvignon, named for the bell that sits atop the estate’s cellars. Of the 2021 vintage, Emma says “a cooler than average growing season gave the fruit more time to develop flavours and for the tannins to mature. The final, classically styled wines have a vibrancy without compromising on depth or complexity.”
In exceptional years, Wirra Wirra also makes a shiraz from the biodynamically farmed Chook Block Vineyard, planted in 1960. Only 10 vintages have been produced, including the first in 1998 and the newly released 2021. To ensure they get the best from the vines, viticulturist Anton Groffen says “we employ every tool from careful hand spur pruning, shoot thinning, crop manipulation when needed, and, of course, handpicking. Through handpicking, we can carefully select only the best fruit and get it to the winery intact and in the best condition possible.”
This year also marks five decades since Greg Trott debuted the iconic Wirra Wirra Church Block. A unique blend of cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot, it continues to be an Australian favourite.
Wirra Wirra wines to try:
2021 Wirra Wirra RSW Shiraz
Refinement is a hallmark across the range. There’s plummy depth, blue and black berries, sour cherry, scrubby and briary notes, iodine, leather, licorice root and a briny black olive note. Oak is on show but still meshes in well, the fruit fulsome but not swooning, making a concise statement but yielding the floor to grape and soil, a fine coil of tannins pulling through a long, savoury finish. – Marcus Ellis, 95 points.RRP $80 | Shop this wine
2021 Wirra Wirra The Angelus Cabernet Sauvignon
All French oak (30 per cent new). From a cool year, a typical windfall for McLaren Vale cabernet, this is refined and elegant, oak neatly packed into the relatively sleek frame, an impressively refined complement of tannins stretching seamlessly from front to back. This is polished, without feeling fussed over, classic notes of cassis, currant, mulberry and cedar et al. with nori, graphite and iodine, and all caught in a tight embrace, nothing spilling out, no excess or sweetness but plenty of concentration and drive. It all bodes well for a long future in the cellar. An excellent release. – Marcus Ellis, 95 points.RRP $80 | Shop this wine
2021 Wirra Wirra Chook Block Shiraz
There’s serene power on display for this pinnacle shiraz, a grandeur and calm drive along with a silken and lightly saline delivery, oak contributing subtle spice notes (all French barriques, with 35 per cent new). Darkly fruited but no monolith, this is littered with rocky mineral notes, black olives, rosemary, dried cherry and licorice, with shapely, insistent tannins the sign of careful extraction and mindful curation to bottle. – Marcus Ellis, 96 points.RRP $150 | To be released October 10
2022 Wirra Wirra Church Block
A blend of cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot, 51/42/7 per cent. The Wirra Wirra worker bee, this does what Church Block typically does: deliver ample flavour and fruit plushness but with a measure of structure and freshness that makes it a great all-rounder, a friend to many foods and weighted to invite a second glass. Brambly red fruits, leafiness, cracked pepper, dark berry notes, a sweet-fruited mid-palate, and a nice grip to close. It's a fine release. – Marcus Ellis, 91 points.RRP $25 | Shop this wine
For more information visit wirrawirra.com.
