Reillys Wines, a proudly South Australian owned and operated winery since 1993 which specialise in producing premium red and white wines sourced from our estate vineyards in the Clare Valley.
The name Reillys stems from our rich history dating back to 1856 when Irish shoemaker Hugh Reilly settled in the township of Mintaro, building his home 'Reilly's Cottage' from the local slate.
Justin & Julie Ardill With a background in pharmacy and medicine, owner and winemaker Justin Ardill saw an opportunity to indulge his passion for wine by purchasing a small parcel of 12 acres of vineyards in Watervale in 1993. Along with these vineyards, he and wife Julie purchased a humble cottage to be their cellar door and winery on the main street of Mintaro known simply as Reilly’s Cottage.
It is this building and its 1856 owner Hugh Reilly that inspired the wine label ‘Reillys Wines’. Beginning in 1994 with 10T of fruit, their first wines were created. Of this, 3.6T of Old Bushvine Grenache was crushed, open fermented and basket pressed by hand by Justin and Julie on the verandah of Reillys Cottage. The first vintage yielded 300 dozen of each of Riesling, Shiraz and Old Bushvine Grenache.
Sourced from dry grown vines planted in the 1920s with maturation taking place in French oak.
Totally opaque black as night core with a deep dark red black hue. The nose throws up intense liquorice, ripe blackberry and black cherry aromatics followed by hints of dark chocolate, vanillin oak and subtle spicy pepper.
Rich, dense and concentrated, voluptuously textured flavours of liquorice and ripe blackberries run into a hefty dose of vanillin oak with a spicy finish and some heat also evident.
A robust tannin structure gives the mouthfeel some chewiness but its otherwise obscured by the rich fruit and heavy-handed oak. Aftertaste of vanillin oak, liquorice, blackberries, earth and spice. Despite the richness of fruit, the oak component is still too prominent.
Cellar for 4-5 years.
Alcohol Level : 16%
Awards
92 PTS, Halliday Wine Companion 2020, www.winecompanion.com.au
“This is a garrulous wine, plush and preened, of power and considerable structural mettle. The oak is an adjunct rather than a scream. Wonderful vinosity, too, plying blueberry, anise, olive, iodine and violet notes wide and expansive...”
92/100, Huon Hooke, The Real Review, 21st January 2019
“Very deep, dark, dense purple/red colour which stains the glass, the bouquet fresh and bright and slightly jammy... The wine is big-boned and heavily structured, concentrated and dense, with thick tannins...”
Toni Paterson, The Real Review, 18th February 2019
“...Intense aromas of blackberry jam and liqueur plums. The palate is full-bodied, warming and robust, and the finish is laden with chewy tannin. A highly-concentrated wine...”
