The story
Dr. John Kirk AM immigrated to Australia from the United Kingdom to work as a research scientist at the CSIRO in 1968. In 1971, he founded Clonakilla, named after the farm owned by his grandfather in County Clare, Ireland. The name of the winery translates to "meadow of the church".
Clonakilla was the first commercial winery to open in the region and John Kirk is often referred to as the "father" of the wine industry in the area. The first wines from the estate, a Riesling and a Cabernet Shiraz were produced in 1976 after initial difficulties with droughts and lack of irrigation. Like almost all the wineries in the Canberra district, it is not based in the Australian Capital Territory but across the border in New South Wales. This is due to the leasehold land system in the ACT which means a business can only lease land from the government and not own it.
After teaching religious education with Jesuits at Xavier College in Melbourne and spending holidays helping at the winery, John's fourth son, Tim Kirk, joined the winery full-time in 1996. Tim is currently the chief winemaker and served as the CEO from 2009 to 2023. John's sixth and youngest son, Stephen Kirk, took up the role of CEO in 2023.
From Wikipedia’s article on Clonakilla, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3