Inkwell Wines Launches Competition to “Hack the Future of Shiraz

17 January 2025

McLaren Vale winery Inkwell Wines has announced the second instalment of its Hacking the Future of Shiraz competition, following the release of its inaugural 2024 collection last week.

Inkwell owners Dudley Brown and Irina Santiago-Brown are offering one tonne of Regenerative Organic Certified Shiraz free* to the five successful applicants.

Inkwell said the goal of the project was to “reimagine a better future for Australia’s most produced variety”, and to spark conversations about alternative approaches to the variety, and ‘daring to imagine’ diversifying the drinking audience.

The project is an open-source collaboration aimed at identifying styles and methods of producing Shiraz that resonate with existing drinkers, stalwarts who are changing their drinking habits, younger consumers and non-consumers of wine. The project will team a diverse group of emerging winemakers who are crafting “distinctive and interesting” wines, and are looking to make their mark on the wine world, including a diverse group of judges from Australia and overseas.

“This project is about direction, not perfection,” said Inkwell founder Dudley Brown. “Australia has gone from zero to hero with Grenache and Chardonnay in the past 15 years. Shiraz is our next mountain to conquer. We believe that will increasingly happen as regenerative viticulture becomes the norm.”

The judging panel will provide individually written notes about each wine produced and Inkwell will also make the wines available in a limited number of mixed six packs to enable availability of all of the wines.

The ‘wine hackers’ will also keep the profits from their rendition of Inkwell’s 2025 Shiraz grapes.

Winemaker and viticulturist at Inkwell, Irina Santiago-Brown, said the winery’s goal was  “to lift up the future of Shiraz and regenerative wine farming together by linking geology, soil biology and oenology to redefine Australian wine”.

Australian wine writer and journalist Mike Bennie, who will be the convenor of judges, was enthusiastic about the potential of the Shiraz hacking project.

“The idea that a diverse array of up-and-coming winemakers will be enabled to assist in a cultural revitalisation of such a vaunted variety from this region is relevant for our time,” said Bennie. “We are gratified to be joined by judges from Wine Companion, JancisRobinson.com, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Advocate, The Wine Front and others who are contributing their time and committing to write about this transformational project.”

The wines will be bottled prior to the end of 2025 and assessed for their creativity, interest and drinkability in January 2026. The Hacking the Future of Shiraz project is being run over three vintages from 2024 to 2026 to maximise awareness and opportunities for participation.

The competition is open to winemakers from anywhere in Australia. Interested winemakers can apply to become one of the ‘wine hackers’ here. Nominations close 28 January 2025, with winners announced in the first week of February, and picking anticipated in mid-February.

*Apply here, includes details and fine print.

Trade and media inquiries: e: dudley@inkwellwines.com , m: (+61) 4 3005 0115

About Inkwell Wines:

Inkwell has been producing minimal intervention single vineyard wines at its estate winery since 2005. Over the years they have followed a path from sustainable to organic and regenerative viticulture in pursuit of ‘the fingerprint of place’ of all great estate wines. One outcome of this approach is that Inkwell is the only winery documented where ferments finish with non-saccharomyces yeast present. Their belief is that carbon rich living soils planted to climate appropriate varieties will enable Inkwell to adapt and thrive to climate change. Producing wine from Grenache, Shiraz, Mataro, Primitivo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grillo and Viognier. They can be found at 377 California Road Tatachilla SA and www.inkwellwines.com.