Kilikanoon Wines


	Our Story The Kilikanoon Story Winemaker Kevin Mitchell purchased the Kilikanoon property in the heart of South Australia’s picturesque Clare Valley in 1997 with a vision of creating his own brand. The first Kilikanoon branded wines were from the 1997 vintage and released in 1998. The wines were Shiraz (soon to become the Oracle, Mort’s Block Riesling, Prodigal Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon, with all the grapes coming from the 2 vineyards owned by Kevin and his father Mort. Like many Australia winemakers Kevin Mitchell is highly trained in both the scientific and artistic sides of winemaking. He also comes from a long tradition of grape growing in the Clare Valley, where grapes have been grown and wine made since the 1850s. His father Mort Mitchell has been a defining influence, having planted and lovingly tended for decades Kilikanoon’s Golden Hillside suite of contiguous vineyards, including the famed Mort’s Block, home to Kilikanoon flagship wines like Oracle Shiraz and Mort’s Block Riesling. The vines are now what we call “old vines” being around 40 year of age. Kevin’s love of terroir comes from years of playing and then working in these vineyards as a child alongside his father. From these humble beginnings with about 2000 dozen bottles produced from the 1997 vintage, Kilikanoon has grown its production to over 40,000 dozen in 2007. This has been done without any change in the philosophy of hand crafted wines, but has been made possible by the gradual acquisition of estate-owned vineyards throughout South Australia’s finest wine regions. In addition to its vineyards in the Clare Valley, which now total over 150 acres or 60 hectares, the Kilikanoon group, through its owners and the Watervale Private Trust, a small group of wine-loving investors owns vineyards in the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Eden Valley, Angle Vale and the northern district of the Southern Flinders Ranges. In total over 1000 acres or 400 hectares. Of course only a small selection of the finest fruit from these extensive holdings finds its way into Kilikanoon branded wines. The group sells fruit to a number of Australian wineries, both large and small. This rapid growth required some help. Kevin’s main partners in Kilikanoon since 2001 have been two well-known Australian classical musicians, Nathan Waks (Principal Cellist with the Sydney Symphony and also Managing Director of Kilikanoon) and John Harding (concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras), along with Bruce Baudinet (Kilikanoon Chairman) and head of Oracle Funds Management and their families. This has kept Kilikanoon a small family run company, with Board meetings often taking place under the arbour at the Kilikanoon cellar door… In its relatively short history Kilikanoon has won a large number of Australian and International awards and received high praise from the world’s most respected wine writers. The 2002 Clare Valley Wine Show was what really put Kilikanoon on the map. That year there were 7 trophies awarded (trophies being awarded to the highest scoring gold medallists where the judges felt the wines were of sufficient standard). Of these 7 Kilikanoon won 6, remembering of course that the judges, led that year by Huon Hooke, one of Australia’s most respected and influential wine writers and judges tasted all the wines blind. In more recent times Kilikanoon has received comments like “This is one of the most brilliantly run wineries in Australia” from Robert Parker Jnr’s Wine Advocate, who has regularly scored Kilikanoon’s wines up to 98 points, and the coveted 5 red stars from James Halliday’s authoritative Australian Wine Companion. These, as well as international awards such as Best Shiraz (worldwide) at the 2008 International Wine Challenge for Kilikanoon’s Oracle Shiraz and the same award-(Best Shiraz) at the 2004 International Wine and Spirits Competition, also for Oracle have helped Kilikanoon to spread its wings rather more quickly than may be expected from a young winery. Kilikanoon now exports to over 20 countries (see Kilikanoon World for our international and Australian distributors). See our Review and News sections for details of our reviews and awards. In 2005, Kevin was finally able to realise his dream of building a purpose built winery with open fermenters and basket presses to ensure ever higher standards of quality from the expanding fruit sources. We are forever grateful to Dave Powell of Torbreck Wines in the Barossa Valley where most of Kilikanoon’s red wines were crushed and fermented until then. We also continue to work closely with Neil Paulett in the Clare Valley where our Rieslings are crushed. Another important partnership for Kilikanoon has been with Rolf Binder, also from the Barossa Valley, with whom we have formed the Binder Mitchell brand of fine Barossa wines. Kilikanoon’s philosophy is to make the best wines from the best grapes, no matter where they are, so recently we went to France! We make wine in two regions- the Loire Valley and the Rhône Valley. The Loire is for sparkling Vouvray, a wonderful wine made in the Méthode Traditionelle (like its more famous but no older cousin Champagne). We did this because to make a fine sparkling wine in Australia is logistically very difficult- the best grapes for this style come from Tasmania and Victoria and vintage time is very busy for Kevin in the Clare Valley and September is a relatively quiet time for us, thus allowing Kevin and family to do vintage in France. Our partners are Maison Greffe, who are now part of the Cave des Producteurs in Vouvray. In the Rhone, it’s all about Shiraz, or Syrah. The northern Rhône is the birthplace of Syrah, over 2,000 years ago and Kilikanoon has been fortunate to find wonderful partners in the Cave de Tain. This is Kevin’s homage to one of the great terroirs of the world. Look out for Kilikanoon Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage from the 2007 vintage from 2009. As if all this hasn’t been enough, in late 2007 Kilikanoon, along with partners Janet Holmes à Court and Greg and Kerrie Paramor acquired Seppeltsfield in the Barossa Valley, one of Australia’s most revered and historic wineries, established in 1851 and the home to one of the world’s finest collections of barrel-aged fortified wines, including the unique unbroken collection of Vintage dated 100 year old Para Tawny (port) dating back to 1878, when the first wines were laid down, not to be bottled for 100 years. We are delighted to celebrate our first decade. The next looks to be just as exciting.