Reilly's

The Clare Valley wine region is just over 100km north of the city of Adelaide and is one of the oldest wine producing regions in Australia. It is ideal for wine cultivation with long hot summer days and cool nights resulting in a Continental climate producing full flavoured wines.

The Clare Valley is recognised for producing some of Australia’s finest wines and so it was a natural choice for us to establish Reilly’s Cottage Wines. We began operations in 1993 as a small producer of fine quality hand-made wines.

This has been a very successful venture for Adelaide cardiologist Justin Ardill and wife Julie, beginning as a hobby in 1994, but growing significantly over the intervening years. They now have vineyards at Watervale, Leasingham and Mintaro, growing riesling, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, grenache, tempranillo and merlot. The cellar door and restaurant were built between 1856 and 1866 by Irish immigrant Hugh Reilly; 140 years later they were restored by the Ardills, distant relatives of Reilly who have been making wines in the Clare Valley for a mere 20 years or so.