Clonakilla, ‘meadow of the church’ is a small family winery situated in Murrambateman NSW, 40 km north of Canberra. Its soil consists of mostly sandy clay loams over a lighter, friable clay sub-soil.  Since the winery is on the cool southern NSW tablelands, the climate is quite similar to the Bordeaux region and northern Rhone Valley in France.

Clonakilla’s history began in 1971 after John Kirk, then a research scientist with the CSIRO, settled in Canberra with his young Irish family and realised the area’s great but relatively unknown potential to support a premium wine industry.  John went on to purchase a 44 acre farm and I for one am glad he took the plunge.

Starting with original plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling John persevered through years of drought, experimentation and the eventual sinking of a bore to create the vineyard as it stands today.  Now the bulk of their vineyards contain Shiraz, Riesling, Viognier and Cabernet vines.

Clonakilla is now run by John’s fourth son Tim, whose travels to the Rhone Valley heavily influenced the operations of the vineyard and led to the creation of their Shiraz Viognier blend.  The insight of Tim has helped establish Clonakilla's reputation as one of Australia’s top small wineries and their Shiraz Viognier has since become their flagship wine.

Clonakilla has an honest low yield policy, so their wines are made in very limited quantities but like diamonds, this makes them even more attractive. - Daniel Jess