Wendouree Cellars

Few Australian wineries inspire the reverence that Wendouree does. Founded in 1895 and worked for decades by the late Tony Brady, the estate farms ironstone vineyards on the southern edge of Clare, some of them planted in the 1890s. The wines — structured, ageless Shiraz, Cabernet, Malbec and Mataro — are sold almost entirely by mailing list and are among the most collectable reds in the country.

There is no slick cellar door experience here, and that is precisely the point. Wendouree is a working farm that happens to make legendary wine. Allocations are tight and sell out fast, so the way in is the mailing list rather than a walk-up tasting.

For wine lovers, simply driving past the old stone winery is a small pilgrimage. It is the Clare Valley distilled to its essence: old vines, hard ironstone soils, and an absolute refusal to compromise.