2019 Barking Mad Clare Valley Shiraz

Its Origins

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 his 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, our first wines were created. In 2000 when wine production outgrew Reillys Cottage, our winery at Leasingham was built housing state of the art winemaking equipment. Over the years, Justin and Julie purchased and planted more vineyards and sourced premium fruit from local growers in the Watervale and Leasingham areas. Expert management by our viticulturalist and good mate Rob Smyth ensures the vineyards are low yielding but produce intensely flavoured berries resulting in regionally distinct, fruit-driven wines. Our winemaking philosophy is to produce premium wines from our Clare Valley vineyards with limited winemaking intervention, allowing this quality fruit to truly shine.