Oliver’s Taranga, McLaren Vale Don Oliver

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  • Oliver’s Taranga, McLaren Vale

    Oliver’s Taranga Vineyard in McLaren Vale has long been one of the most important sources of high-quality grapes for some of South Australia’s most revered makers, with their own name added to that roster when they started making wine under sixth-generation steward Corinna Wright in 1994. Her uncle Don Oliver takes charge of the 85-hectare vineyard, with a keen focus on sustainability and an unwavering dedication to producing A-grade fruit, which ensures their grapes end up in some of this country’s most vaunted bottlings. Along with regional stalwarts shiraz, grenache and cabernet, the family have invested significantly in Italian and Spanish grape varieties that suit their warm maritime site.

  • Land of Tomorrow – Grindstone Vineyard, Wrattonbully

    Susie Harris started the Land of Tomorrow wine brand with grapes from her family’s Wrattonbully property, which they have farmed for four generations. Beginning in the 1970s, the property has been steadily revegetated from bare grazing land to re-establish woodland and wetlands, with vines first planted for the Grindstone Vineyard in 1995. Harris has sped up the process of restoring the land, with as much attention to the vineyard as the surrounding land, building biodiversity from microbes in the soil to native grasses between the rows and fauna in the re-established scrub. She is also focused on communicating that message to consumers, with an ecotourism hut hosting visitors to understand the broader environmental goals while appreciating the wines and their connection with the land that Harris is seeking to protect. The Grindstone Vineyard is responsible for a chardonnay, shiraz and cabernet shiraz under the Land of Tomorrow label.

  • Quealy – Balnarring Vineyard, Mornington Peninsula

    Before selling to a major player, Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy made their mark as icons of the Mornington Peninsula in the 1990s, with their T’Gallant estate generating a flurry of interest around pinot grigio/gris that has not abated since. With a move to one of the Mornington Peninsula’s oldest vineyards in Balnarring, the pair have continued with their exploration of that grape, along with the Peninsula stalwarts of pinot noir and chardonnay, as well as delving into some key white grapes of north-eastern Italy. The site is responsible for some of the key Quealy bottlings, including their premium ‘Seventeen Rows’ pinot noir and skin-contact ‘Turbul’ friulano. Today, the vineyard is managed under organic certification by Will Byles, who took the reins from former manager Lucas Blanck after vintage 2023, to produce fruit for wines that range from classic to experimental and lo-fi.

  • Malakoff Vineyard, Pyrenees

    In Victoria’s Pyrenees, near Landsborough, the Malakoff Vineyard has become one of the state’s most celebrated grower sites, supplying fruit to a shimmering galaxy of winemaking stars. Owned and managed by father and son viticultural team Robert and Cameron John, the site was first celebrated by Northern Rhône superstar Michel Chapoutier when he saw the potential for greatness in Victorian gold country, but it is now perhaps better known for supplying nebbiolo and shiraz to more recognisably local makers.

  • Meadowbank, Tasmania

    Meadowbank’s Ellis family are pioneers of the modern Tasmanian wine scene, planting their vineyard in the 1970s against the best available advice. That site in the Upper Derwent Valley has validated their conviction, becoming one of the island’s most enduring and respected fruit sources. The 60-hectare vineyard supplies names like Arras, Bay of Fires and Glaetzer-Dixon with grapes, primarily pinot noir, shiraz and riesling. Today, the Meadowbank brand has also been reinvigorated, with the wines fine-tuned by the glittering talents of Peter Dredge, who makes Meadowbank’s own-label wines along with his own Dr Edge label, which largely centres around Meadowbank fruit.

  • Yangarra Estate, McLaren Vale

    Viticulturist Michael Lane and winemaker Peter Fraser have worked hand in glove at McLaren Vale’s Yangarra Estate for over 20 years, steering the wines to ever-greater heights through a program that puts vineyard front and centre. Fraser is one of this country’s most skilled makers – no argument – but the long-term quality goals the pair had for the estate were always built on reinvigorating their soil and returning a natural harmony to the site. Today, Lane meticulously manages 82 hectares of vines to A-grade biodynamic standards, working across a suite of Southern Rhône varieties, with grenache taking the lead. Yangarra also supplies grapes to a who’s who of McLaren Vale’s finest makers.


  • Hoffmann Family – Mickan Vineyard, Barossa Valley

    The Hoffmann family are some of the Barossa Valley’s most celebrated growers, with a precious resource of old vines ideally situated in the subregion of Ebenezer. But Adrian Hoffmann farms many young vines, too, with the 20-hectare Mickan Block already showing promise as a source of top-shelf shiraz. Although it’s only five seasons in, the fruit has already been in high demand, going to such makers as Travis Earth, Glaetzer, Soul Growers, Tribus and Torbreck, as well as filling bottles for Hoffman’s collaboration with Chris Ringland, North Barossa Vintners, and Hoffmann’s own Hoffmann Family Vineyards label


  • Hoffmann Family – Dallwitz Vineyard, Barossa Valley

    The Hoffmann family’s Dallwitz Block is one of the Barossa Valley’s most renowned fruit sources, with the oldest documented vines planted in 1912, and apocryphal tales of vines surviving from an undocumented 1888 planting. After the family purchased the vineyard in the ’50s, hard times almost saw the site lost in the ’80s, but a revival started by Jeff Hoffmann and extensively expanded by his son Adrian now sees the family vineyards – with the Dallwitz Block as the centrepiece – as some of the region’s most distinguished. With shiraz the lead variety and a focus on increasing soil health, the Dallwitz Block supplies fruit to top makers, including Rockford, Agricola, Glaetzer, Chris Ringland, Torbreck, John Duval, The Standish Wine Company, Izway, and Sami-Odi.

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Hoffmann Family – Dallwitz Vineyard, Barossa Valley

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