Unflinchingly authentic  

In South Australia’s Barossa Valley wine region, Marco is the custodian of some of the oldest Grenache and Semillon vines in the world. These vines need constant care, and that’s where Marco spends nearly all his time, tending to the vines by hand. 

“I am a viticulturist first and foremost who makes wine from that vineyard,” he says.

In 2003, Marco released the family’s first wines under his label, Cirillo. He makes bright, vibrant, food-friendly wines – Grenache, Shiraz, Semillon – that are authentic to his family and their unique vineyard, regardless of what’s in fashion.

 “Twenty years ago, when I started this process, people said, ‘Don’t make Grenache and don't make the style that you’re making’,” says Marco. “But now it’s having a moment in the sun. When people are no longer excited about Grenache, I’ll still do what I’ve always done: make Grenache. It’s what my father started and it’s what I’ll continue and hopefully the next generation will continue also.”

Marco describes his wines as “three distinct cultures rolled into one wine” – each wine draws on his identity as an Australian, his Italian heritage (he’s a ninth-generation winemaker) and his affinity for France’s Southern Rhône Valley.

His wines are very much made in the vineyard, and his winemaking philosophy is simple: “Allow the wine to do what it wants”.

“If you grow it well, it makes itself comfortably without manipulation,” says Marco. “But in a way I  intervene constantly, because I’m looking, I’m smelling, I’m tasting, I’m touching … I use natural yeast from the vineyard, and we don’t filter our wines, but that’s what’s happened for thousands of years, so it’s not new.

“We make wine our way. I’ve never made wine for a market or a scene or a movement. This is what we do, this is how I’ll continue to do things.”

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