Clonakilla

Clonakilla Cellar Door

Dr. John Kirk immigrated to Australia from the United Kingdom to work as a research scientist at the CSIRO in 1968.[1][2] In 1971, he founded Clonakilla, named after the farm owned by his grandfather in County Clare, Ireland.[3][4][5] The name of the winery translates to "meadow of the church".[6]

Clonakilla was the first commercial winery to open in the region[7] and John Kirk is often referred to as the "father" of the wine industry in the area.[2] The first wines from the estate, a Riesling and a Cabernet Shiraz[8] were produced in 1976 after initial difficulties with droughts and lack of irrigation.[2][9] Like almost all the wineries in the Canberra district, it is not based in the Australian Capital Territory but across the border in New South Wales.[9][10] This is due to the leasehold land system in the ACT which means a business can only lease land from the government and not own it.[11]

After teaching religious education with Jesuits at Xavier College in Melbourne and spending holidays helping at the winery, John's fourth son, Tim Kirk, joined the winery full-time in 1996.[1][3] Tim is currently the chief winemaker and in 2009 was appointed CEO.[12][13]

The Canberra wine region is a cool climate area and the wines produced by Clonakilla reflect this. Around 10,000 to 12,000 cases of wine are produced each year.[12]

The flagship wine is the Shiraz Viognier co-fermentation, produced from a selection of the best grapes in a single twelve hectare vineyard.[14][15] The two grape types in this wine are co-fermented, with around five to ten percent Viognier and the rest Shiraz, depending on vintage conditions.[1][3] This wine was first produced by Clonakilla in 1992 after Tim Kirk had spent time in the northern Rhone Valley, specifically visiting Guigal, and he decided that it was a style that he wanted to emulate and that it would be well suited to the Canberra region.[1][9][16] The Shiraz Viognier is described by James Halliday as having "icon status"[17] and as being the best example of this wine style in Australia.[18] Jancis Robinson has identified it as the "pioneer" of the blend in Australia.[19] It was recognised at the Outstanding level of the Langton's Classification of Australian Wine in 2005,[20] and was elevated to the highest level of "Exceptional" in 2010.[14]

Other red wines produced include two more Shiraz Viognier blends - an entry-level wine called "Hilltops", and the "O'Riada", named after Irish composer Seán Ó Riada, which sits in between the Hilltops and the flagship Shiraz Viognier[21] as well as a Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot blend called "Ballinderry".[22] There was also an experimental straight Shiraz released in 2006 and 2008 that spent an extra year in oak.[15]

Clonakilla produces a number of white wines as well - Riesling, a Semillon-Sauvignon blanc blend as well as two straight Viogniers are made, with one Viognier bottling aged in stainless steel and the other aged in oak.[3][21]

The logo displayed on the label of all the Clonakilla wines comes from the Book of Durrow, a seventh-century manuscript.[3]

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