Every day, the Wirra Wirra tribe passes by a large slate installation as they enter the winery. Inscribed on it is Greg Trott’s (founder) philosophy on life, a mantra that guides their daily tasks: "Never give misery an even break, nor bad wine a second sip. You must be serious about quality, dedicated to your task in life, especially winemaking, but this should all be fun."
Perched atop the winery in a modest belltower is a 3/4-tonne bell that they ring occasionally or randomly. They also enjoy hurling watermelons from a giant medieval siege machine set up on the lawns, and their grounds are secured by a boundary fence known as ‘Woodhenge,’ made from massive threaded redgum trunks.
The tribe celebrates their successes with gusto (wine in hand), and even when there’s no success to celebrate, they always find another reason. They are serious about the wine they make, the wines they drink, and the biodynamic vines they grow, but they firmly believe that everything else should be fun. They are the Wirra Wirra Tribe.
Wirra Wirra produces generous, elegant, and fresh red wines from McLaren Vale, specialising in the region’s classic varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, and Grenache. Chief Winemaker Emma Wood draws inspiration from the cooler Adelaide Hills to craft expressive and vibrant white wines from Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. A stylistic thread across the Wirra Wirra portfolio is a balance of generosity and elegance.
In 2024, the winery upgraded with a new premium facility featuring state-of-the-art de-stemming, sorting, and crushing equipment. This enables the winemaking team to deliver pristine fruit to temperature-controlled two-tonne open fermenters, allowing winemakers to to precisely control the percentage of whole berries and crushing level for each parcel. Each open fermenter is hand plunged and pumped over according to a tailored regime based on daily tastings. After fermentation, the wine is basket pressed and sent to barrels, with oak selection matched to each wine’s characteristics. Following barrel maturation, classification and blending bring together multiple parcels, allowing for the identification of single vineyard wines. Each wine in the Wirra Wirra portfolio has a distinct style while accommodating vintage variations.
