What to expect from Willunga 100's 2025 vintage grenache release

London-based Master of Wine David Gleave didn’t set out to specialise in grenache. In fact, when he and former Oddbins MD John Ratcliffe decided in 2005 to pursue a winery project in McLaren Vale, the plan was just to make a classic Aussie cabernet-shiraz blend and a co-fermented shiraz viognier. 

“But, as we spent more time in the region, we realised the potential of the old vines,” David says. “We were hooked!” 

Two decades on, Willunga 100 (a nod to the ‘Hundred of Willunga’; the historical cadastral division that spans much of McLaren Vale) is still grenache’s greatest champion, with the variety accounting for (or a component of) around half the wines in its range. 

David Gleave MW.

At the apex is a trio of single-vineyard grenache wines made from the Smart vineyard in Clarendon, and the Trott and Blind Spot vineyards in Blewitt Springs. While all three sites are planted to dry-grown bush vines, “each has its own nuances,” says winemaker Renae Hirsch (who has also been shortlisted for the 2027 Halliday Winemaker of the Year award).

Established in 1922, the Smart vineyard is the oldest and coolest of the three sites, which, in the wines, “shows with a tighter acid line and floral characters,” Renae says. The east-facing,1952-planted Trott vineyard “naturally produces wines with great complexity and tannin length”. And Willunga 100's own Blind Spot vineyard, acquired in 2019, grows wines with “lovely purity of fresh fruit, that are open and more approachable than the other two, but still with complexity and a serious tannin structure.”

There are also nuances in how each is made. While fruit is always handpicked and basked pressed, the Smart vineyard wine was the only one of the three in 2025 not to include any whole bunch, and the Trott was the only one to see any oak maturation (15 per cent in older seasoned puncheons). "The main thing I focus on is expressing each site's purity of character in the final wines," Renae says.

Willunga 100, McLaren Vale.

"I like to keep winemaking techniques in the background to add a little complexity but not dominate that purity, and work on getting the right balance of flavour, acid, texture and tannin structure."

The 2025 vintage wines, which will hit shelves in late August, generally show “great concentration and complexity of flavour, freshness despite the dry conditions and warmer season, and good structure – quite a lot of fine tannin,” Renae adds.

The Blind Spot vineyard is also the source of Willunga 100’s Blewitt Springs Grenache, as well as a handful of others in its range, including the Moritz Block Shiraz. And, in 2026, it produced the winery’s first piquepoul, from one of a handful of varieties that was planted in place of those less climatically suitable after the site was purchased.

Renae Hirsch.

“We’re all pretty excited about the 2026 Piquepoul,” she says. “It has beautiful freshness, citrusy acidity and that characteristic slight saline character... we think it has great potential.”

Still, at Willunga 100, grenache is, and will always be, king. "We love the variety, and the style that many producers in McLaren Vale are striving for," Renae says. "It's great to see the greater wine-loving community embracing what we are doing."

See how Marcus Ellis scored the 2025 vintage grenache wines from Willunga 100 below.

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