Before their first vintage in 2005, the Willunga 100 team explored the McLaren Vale vineyards and came across plots of 50-year-old Grenache vines. At this time, most of the wine produced from this fruit was destined for blending as there was little demand for top quality Grenache. Willunga 100 decided this had to change, so they made these vines their focus and gave them the attention they deserved. The Willunga 100 team haven’t looked back since.
The soils in McLaren Vale are among the oldest in the world, estimated at over 500 million years. The resulting low vigour and old vines combine to produce low yields in the vineyard and stunning, concentrated fruit.
Willunga 100 take their name from the historic ‘Hundred’ (administrative area of 100 square miles) of Willunga that was established in 1839 - only three years after the settlement of South Australia – and today marks the land from which much of their fruit is sourced. The tree featured on their bottle label is an old River Red Gum, which stands tall over the vineyards and was already over one hundred years of age when the first vines were planted in McLaren Vale in the 1840s.
