Clonakilla is an

Australian wine The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor ...

ry based in the Canberra wine region of Murrumbateman, New South Wales.

History

Dr. John Kirk AM immigrated to Australia from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to work as a research scientist at the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

in 1968. In 1971, he founded Clonakilla, named after the farm owned by his grandfather in

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The name of the winery translates to "meadow of the church". Clonakilla was the first commercial winery to open in the region and John Kirk is often referred to as the "father" of the wine industry in the area. The first wines from the estate, a

Riesling Riesling ( , ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling ...

and a Cabernet Shiraz were produced in 1976 after initial difficulties with

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

s and lack of irrigation. Like almost all the wineries in the Canberra district, it is not based in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

but across the border in New South Wales. This is due to the

leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a Lease, lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title (property), title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold right ...

land system in the ACT which means a business can only lease land from the government and not own it. After teaching religious education with

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. The ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and spending holidays helping at the winery, John's fourth son, Tim Kirk, joined the winery full-time in 1996. Tim is currently the chief winemaker and served as the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

from 2009 to 2023. John's sixth and youngest son, Stephen Kirk, took up the role of CEO in 2023.

Wines

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.Clonakilla.com.au - Our Story
The flagship wine is the

Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...

Viognier Viognier () is a white wine grape variety. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu AOC, Condrieu in the Rhone Valley (wine), Rhône Valley.J. Robinson ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'', Third Edition, p. 754, Oxford Univers ...

co-fermentation, produced from a selection of the best grapes in a single twelve hectare vineyard. The two grape types in this wine are

co-fermented Co-fermentation is the practice in winemaking of fermenting two or more fruits at the same time when producing a wine. This differs from the more common practice of blending separate wine components into a cuvée after fermentation. While co-fermen ...

, with around five to ten percent Viognier and the rest Shiraz, depending on vintage conditions. This wine was first produced by Clonakilla in 1992 after Tim Kirk had spent time in the northern Rhone Valley, specifically visiting

Guigal Guigal, formally ''Établissements Guigal'', is a winery and négociant business situated in Ampuis in the northern part of the Rhône region in France. Guigal produces wine from appellations across the Rhône region, but is particularly noted fo ...

, and he decided that it was a style that he wanted to emulate and that it would be well suited to the Canberra region. The Shiraz Viognier is described by James Halliday as having "icon status" and as being the best example of this wine style in Australia.

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

has identified it as the "pioneer" of the blend in Australia. It was recognised at the Outstanding level of the Langton's Classification of Australian Wine in 2005, and was elevated to the highest level of "Exceptional" in 2010. 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 Seán Ó Riada (; born John Reidy; 1 August 1931 – 3 October 1971) was an Irish composer and arranger of Irish traditional music. Through his incorporation of modern and traditional techniques he became the single most influential figur ...

, which sits in between the Hilltops and the flagship Shiraz Viognier as well as a

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux (wine), Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire (wine), Loire's C ...

and

Merlot Merlot ( ) is a dark-blue-colored wine grape variety that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of , the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color ...

blend called "Ballinderry". There was also an experimental straight Shiraz released in 2006 and 2008 that spent an extra year in oak. Clonakilla produces a number of white wines as well -

, a Semillon-

Sauvignon blanc Sauvignon blanc () is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the city of Bordeaux in France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an ind ...

blend as well as two straight

s are made, with one Viognier bottling aged in stainless steel and the other aged in oak. The logo displayed on the label of all the Clonakilla wines comes from the

Book of Durrow The Book of Durrow is an illuminated manuscript gospel book dated to that contains the Vulgate Latin text of the four Gospels, with some Irish variations, and other matter, written in Insular script, and richly illustrated in the style of Ins ...

, a seventh-century manuscript.

References

External links

Official website
{{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers Wineries in New South Wales Australian companies established in 1971 Food and drink companies established in 1971