The Buyer | Wirra & Wirra & Thistledown look to take Aussie Grenache to a new level

Matthew Deller MW, CEO of Wirra Wirra

Tell us about the new partnership you have forged and what it means?

The Trott Vineyard is one of the greatest Grenache sites in Australia, so custodianship means more than making great wine, it’s an opportunity to showcase Australian wine on the world stage.

It’s a partnership to share the special Grenache that comes from the vineyard between us and collaborate together on bringing the wines to international attention. For Thistledown it means they can keep making their wonderful Sands of Time Trott Vineyard Grenache, for Wirra Wirra we will make a single vineyard Trott Vineyard Grenache, and Trott Vineyard will be an amazing component of our The Absconder reserve Grenache.

One day we hope to understand the site enough to make a tiny individual block wine from three to four rows that we identify as special.

Why did you want to work together in this way?

Wirra Wirra could happily have made wine from all of the fruit of the Trott Vineyard as a monopole, but by collaborating with Thistledown we double our potential to present the wines, through our differentiated distribution networks and PR platforms.

Also, Giles and I are both Masters of Wine, which means we have an inherent bond knowing that we have both endured the rigorous exams and voices in the industry that provide us a megaphone which we can use to extol the virtues of Trott Vineyard, Blewitt Springs, Mclaren Vale, and Grenache and our individual approaches to all of those amazing things .

What skills or attributes do you value in each other that make this partnership work?

For Wirra Wirra, Thistledown brings 14 years of experience with the Trott Vineyard, invaluable IP to help inform our vineyard management and winemaking, a reputation of one of Australia’s preeminent Grenache winemakers, an impressive global distribution network and deep media and customer relationships around the world and a history of making exceptional wines from the Trott Vineyard, including the 2024 Sands of Time Grenache which won the champion wine of the show trophy at the 2025 McLaren Vale Wine Awards.

What is so special and important about the Trott Vineyard?

If one were to design the perfect Grenache vineyard, they would struggle to do better than Trott. It’s a 1952 planting of Grenache in Blewitt Springs, dry grown and bush trained, on deep Maslin sands over a clay and ironstone base. The site sits at around 210 m and faces quite steeply east, so it largely avoids the late afternoon heat that defines much of the Vale floor.

That combination seems to be doing a few things consistently. The sand keeps vigour low and berries small, but the clay at depth allows the vines to keep functioning through the season rather than shutting down. The east-facing aspect and elevation take a degree of heat out of the ripening curve, so you tend to see flavour and tannin arrive without the same push in sugar.

The wines reflect that quite clearly. Across different producers and approaches, you see a repeatable profile of lifted aromatics, usually red fruit and florals, with a fine, almost sandy tannin and a more structural finish than the weight of the wine would suggest. The numbers line up with that as well, with relatively low pH and solid acidity for Grenache at similar alcohol levelsIn a regional sense, it has become one of the vineyards that exemplifies Blewitt Springs.

Over the past decade there has been a clearer separation between those higher, sandier sites and the warmer Vale floor, and Trott has been one of the places where that difference has been most consistently shown. That has largely come through Thistledown’s work with the site, particularly since they started bottling it separately from 2017.

What is it about Grenache that gives it so much potential?

McLaren Vale Grenache brings everything that anyone loves about Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo in one beautiful package. The best examples, particularly from the moderated elevated sandy sites in Blewit Springs are similarly pale in colour, and medium bodied, with the intriguing and beguiling balance of perfume, fragrance, spice, savouriness and delicious red fruits.

Like the Barolos and Barbarescos, the wines are naturally high in alcohol which carries a lot of flavour and density, but also low in pH so they are fresh and focused, and they have gorgeous chalky tannin textures.

They are both delicious drinking and intriguing meditation wines that are versatile with a huge range of foods, particularly duck and pork dishes, but can be savoured on their own watching TV or chatting with friends.

What can Australia do with Grenache that sets it apart globally?

Australian Grenache in general and McLaren Vale in particular brings freshness and florality to Grenache. Grenache grown in some parts of the world can be heavy, raisinated or overtly meaty, whereas modern Australian Grenache is quite the opposite, its medium bodied, light on its feet, fresh and vibrant.

Australia has the oldest ungrafted vines in the world and some of the most ancient soils, which brings a depth and swagger to our wines. McLaren Vale specifically is Mediterranean in climate, but coastal and moderated by the ocean. When Grenache was planted in the 19th Century before irrigation, it was the hardiest variety so planted in the sandiest soils where other varieties wouldn’t thrive.

These very old, own-rooted vines growing in sand give wines that are vibrant, energetic, often crunchy and exciting with its floral perfume and beautiful aromatics.

Are projects like this, focused on site and identity, key to Australia’s future direction?

I think so. It’s a huge focus for Wirra Wirra. In addition to buying the Trott Vineyard, we have secured and manage the Yandra Vineyard in Lenswood, Adelaide Hills for our Chardonnay and the Whiting’s Ridge Vinyard in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale with its 1960’s planted Shiraz on a Maslin Sands hillside.

As wine becomes more of an occasional drink, and we all have less discretionary income, we need to earn our place in peoples glasses and lives. More and more we are looking for more meaningful products and experiences when we are thinking about spending our hard earned money, and for wine that means we seek authenticity, provenance and craft.

From what I’ve seen, experienced and researched, projects focused on site and identity are key to wine’s future direction.

What do you hope this partnership will achieve?

Some of the worlds greatest wines, appreciated by wine lovers around the world.

How will the partnership work in practice across viticulture and winemaking?

Wirra Wirra will manage the vineyard. Our exceptional viticulturalist Anton Groffin, vineyard manager Jose Neves and vineyard management team will carefully hand tend it and we will work closely with Thistledown to apply their already vast experience with it and together learn its secrets.

We will divide up the vineyard a few rows at a time working down the vineyard. It’s not a uniform site. The upper rows are leaner, more exposed, and give more structure. The lower sections carry more mid palate. Most of the better wines seem to come from the middle part of the slope where that balance sits. But until now, because the fruit has been sold to so many wineries, there hasn’t been the opportunity to blend across the different rows.

As we both understand the different parcels and manage each row accordingly, and as we blend these we will be able to bottle better and better wine.

In terms of winemaking, we will each make our wines in our own way, which will provide wine lovers and exciting opportunity to taste different approaches to the same site.

Has anything like this been done before in Australia?

There have been similar collaborations, such as Giaconda and Chaputier ‘s joint venture to produce a Beechworth Shiraz from the Nantua vineyard called Ergo Sum, there is Yalumba and Grosset’s jointly made Mesh Riesling, but I cant think of another project where two wineries share the same vineyard, make different wines and then collaborate on marketing the vineyard.

Would you consider similar partnerships in future?

Let’s see how this one works out. Just kidding. Absolutely, if it makes sense.

Anything else to say?

I am very excited to work with Giles on this. As two Masters of Wine that have come to McLaren Vale as outsiders, Giles from Scotland, me from New Zealand, we are attracted by the opportunity to make great wines in the world here.

I’m excited to see where we can take this.

Giles Cooke MW, founder of Thistledown

Tell us about the new partnership you have forged and what it means?

Wirra Wirra has bought the Trott Vineyard in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale and we've secured a long-term agreement to purchase a portion of the fruit from the site. Thistledown has been making wine from Trott for 14 years and a single vineyard expression called Sands of Time since 2017.

Losing access to the fruit would have been heartbreaking and so I was delighted when we started talking to Wirra, and Matt in particular, about how we could work together for our mutual benefit.

What it means in practice is that the future of this vineyard is now secure, and we can focus entirely on what we've always wanted to do: push Trott's reputation to the very top of the global Grenache conversation.

We're incredibly grateful that there was a meeting of minds, and with an historic business that holds its history and its vison of the future so close to its heart.

Why did you want to work together in this way?

Trott Grenache has been a big part of the Thistledown story and when not being produced as a single vineyard wine, we often talked about how a little bit of Trott Grenache improved pretty much anything we blended it into.

When we started talking to Wirra Wirra, and Matt in particular, it was clear they understood the site's significance and had a genuine long-term commitment to it. They're family-owned, they've been in McLaren Vale since 1894, and they're not interested in short-term gains. That the vineyard has a strong familial connection was an added attraction, and one that seemed meant to be.

We also wanted to work together as we both understood that there is potential for the site to produce wines even greater than those produced so far. That gave us real confidence. This structure, them owning and managing the vineyard, us retaining half the fruit, is actually the ideal outcome. We get to keep doing what we do best.

What skills or attributes do you value in each other that make this partnership work?

Wirra Wirra brings something we simply can't replicate, deep, generational roots in McLaren Vale, the infrastructure and expertise to manage a site of this calibre, the financial commitment of a family ownership that takes the long view and a current trajectory that is more about quality, site and story than volume.

Anton Groffen leading the viticulture gives us real confidence in how the vineyard will be looked after.

What we bring is 14 years of intimate knowledge of this specific site, a proven track record of translating Trott's character into wine that wins internationally, and a focused, site-led approach that keeps the spotlight firmly on single-vineyard expression.

Matt's international experience and clear vision gave me the confidence that we would share a similarly ambitious vision for the site. Having two MW's lead this partnership will also help to open doors and provide authority, as well as a lot of healthy, lively debate.

What is so special and important about the Trott Vineyard?

I often contend that notions of Old World and New World are outdated - especially when you look at not only where the oldest vines are grown, but where the oldest soils exist. Australia has the oldest Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet, Mourvedre and Pinot Meunier in the world and they are planted in soils many magnitudes older than anything in Western Europe, or the so-called old world.

In McLaren Vale we are especially lucky to have some of the most geologically diverse vineyards in the world and the Trott vineyard benefits from the erosion of mountain ranges over many millions of years.

Planted on its own roots in 1952 on deep Maslin sands over clay and ironstone, it has been dry grown and carefully tended to ensure that it still has a long future in front of it. The SSE facing slope provides a wide variety of aspects and vigour that we're excited to fully explore in a way that was impossible under the previous structure. The perfume this site produces is extraordinary, but it's not just aromatic fireworks, there's real purity and structure underneath.

Then you have Sue Trott, who has looked after these vines with a level of care and dedication that was formally recognised when she won Best Single Vineyard Viticulturist at the 2025 McLaren Vale Wine Show. The fact that our 2024 Sands of Time from this site took out Best Wine of Show, Best Grenache and Best Single Vineyard at that same show tells you the fruit is operating at an exceptional level right now.

This is not a vineyard on its way up, it's arrived.

What is it about Grenache that gives it so much potential?

Grenache is both gloriously transparent and versatile. It tells you exactly where it's from and refuses to be anything other than itself. When the site is right, you get this breathtaking combination, floral lift, silky texture, genuine depth, that very few varieties can match. It also has a generosity that makes it incredibly compelling to drink young, but the best examples age magnificently.

When Thistledown began, one of our keys goals was to make wines that were gastronomic, more food friendly and a counter to stereotypes that many people held about Australian wine. Old vine Grenache lends itself well to being made in that style and as Australians become more culturally confident, it is a variety that that compliments the excellence, the informality and the sheer bounty of great Australian ingredients in a way that no other can match.

What can Australia do with Grenache that sets it apart globally?

We have the oldest vines, diverse ancient soils and, in McLaren Vale, a climate that delivers ripeness without robbing the wine of freshness or definition. We also have a winemaking community that is not frightened (or restricted by meaningless legislation) to change what has been done in the past.

Are projects like this, focused on site and identity, key to Australia's future direction?

Without question. The era of selling Australian wine on variety and volume is over, or it should be. The producers who will matter in 10 years are the ones building a credible, specific story about place.

Trott Vineyard is exactly that kind of story: a named site, a defined terroir, a documented history, wines that consistently perform at the highest level. That's the template. And the fact that two producers, one large and established, one small and boutique, can come together around a shared belief in a single site is, I think, genuinely encouraging for where Australian wine is heading.

What do you hope this partnership will achieve?

We want Trott Vineyard to be recognised globally as one of the world's great Grenache terroirs, full stop. Not one of the great Australian ones. One of the great ones, period. The fruit already warrants that conversation. What this partnership does is give us the platform, the stability and the combined weight to make that case properly and persistently in every market that matters.

How will the partnership work in practice across viticulture and winemaking?

Wirra Wirra takes full ownership and management of the vineyard, with Anton Groffen leading viticulture. The brief is clear: preserve and improve the original vine material, maintain the site's structural and soil integrity, protect what makes this place special.

Thistledown purchases half the fruit under a long-term agreement and continues to make Sands of Time from it. So from our perspective, the winemaking relationship with the site continues exactly as it has, except now we have the security of knowing the vineyard's future is in safe hands, and we're working alongside a partner who is as invested in the site's global reputation as we are.

Has anything like this been done before in Australia?

Not quite in this form, no. You see grower relationships and you see acquisitions, but this specific structure, new owner, retained long-term fruit purchaser, both explicitly aligned on positioning a single site at the top of the global Grenache hierarchy, is something different.

In some ways it's closer to how the best vineyard sites in Burgundy operate, where the terroir is the constant and the producers working with it all have a stake in protecting and projecting its identity. We think that's a healthy and exciting model for Australia to explore.

Would you consider similar partnerships in future?

I think that we all face such existential challenges and facing them together, while still independent and with like-minded people has definite attractions - but this is predominantly a meeting of minds on a site rather than necessarily a blueprint for the future. But, if the right site came along, and the right structure existed to secure access to it on terms that allowed us to express it properly, we would absolutely have that conversation.

What this partnership has shown is that there are creative ways to align interests around quality and vision. At a time when Australian wine is lacking the latter, that's an encouraging thought.

* You can find out more Wirra Wirra here.

* You can find our more about Thistledown Wines here.