The first vines at Willow Creek Vineyard were planted in the late 1980s, making our site home to some of the peninsula’s oldest vines.

Located at Merricks North, the vineyard is slightly warmer and drier than other parts of the peninsula yet still retains the region’s cooling maritime influence.  This microclimate provides for a long, cool ripening season which typically produces fruit with intense varietal characters, high natural acidity and fine tannins.

The site has an east-west orientation with a range of soils. There are volcanic-derived red/brown clay loams in the west, to grey sandy loams at the eastern edge.

The site is perfectly suited to growing classic cool climate varieties the region is renowned for, and so, the majority of plantings are of chardonnay (I10V1, Dijon clone 95 & 96) and pinot noir clones (MV6, 115, 777, D2V5, D5V12). The remaining area is planted to cabernet sauvignon with more recent plantings of sauvignon blanc and pinot gris.

The vineyard was originally planted using the hanging cane trellising system however this has been gradually converted to vertical shoot positioning (VSP) over the last 8 years. VSP allows for more sunlight and airflow through the vines, resulting in better fruit quality. This new trellising system coupled with our east-west rows suits the conditions perfectly.

The importance of the relationship between viticulturist and winemaker cannot be understated and at Willow Creek, we see something special in the partnership between Geraldine McFaul (our winemaker) and Robbie O'Leary (our viticulturist).  As the current custodians of Willow Creek Vineyard wines, Robbie and Gerry have a solid understanding of where we've been and have set their sights high for where we're going.  They are exceptional at what they do and we believe Willow Creek couldn't be in better hands.