Finalist Archives - Page 23 of 25 - Young Gun of Wine

Garden & Field – Gnadenberg Road, Eden Valley

Peter and Mel Raymond’s Garden & Field is a young vineyard planted to an old site, once the home to venerable vines that were cruelly plucked from the ground some 40 years ago. In the relative cool of the Barossa’s Eden Valley, the 4-hectare vineyard is a near neighbour to Henschke’s iconic Hill of Grace, with the focus on shiraz, across eight clones. The vines are dry grown and farmed in a sympathetic and regenerative manner, with soil health and biodiversity at the fore. With a little over a decade in vine age, the fruit has already contributed to a string of top Penfolds reds, as well as wines for the Raymonds own label.

Penley Estate, Coonawarra

Founded in 1988, Penley Estate is not Coonawarra’s oldest name, but it is one of its most celebrated. Focusing on the classic offerings of cabernet blends and shiraz, Penley is a traditional icon of the region, but Ang and Bec Tolley were determined to take their estate in a different direction, which has been visibly led in the winery but firmly anchored in the vineyard. Under the viticultural direction of Hans Loder, the estate has recently achieved sustainable certification from Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, and they are presently ‘in conversion’ to organic certification (NASAA). Loder ‘s viticulture program embraces technology and data to target the deployment of resources, improve soil health, and better assess fruit ripeness, resulting in wines with brighter profiles, while more experimental offerings have also been possible through the enhanced ability to select small parcels from the 80-hectare vineyard.

Oxford Landing, Riverland

Oxford Landing has expanded from humble beginnings in the late 1950s to now occupy 300 hectares of vineyard land in the sun-drenched soils of South Australia’s Riverland. A powerhouse of budget grapes and economical wine, the Riverland is also home to some of the most progressive growers in the country, with Oxford Landing arguably leading the charge. With a mix of sustainable and certified organic vineyards under his management, viticulturist Glynn Muster applies a small-scale mindset to a large-scale vineyard, treating each small block individually, while also prioritising the reduction of water use, increasing local biodiversity and offsetting their carbon footprint.

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 

Torbreck – Hillside Vineyard, Barossa Valley

Torbreck’s Hillside Vineyard is a piece of Barossa history. With the first plantings dating back to 1850, it lays claim to some of the region’s oldest shiraz vines. But the significance of the site is as much about the future as it is the living museum of old and ancient vines. A restoration and replanting program run by chief viticulturist Nigel Blieschke has seen the 15 hectares of shiraz and grenache vines expanded to almost 40 hectares, with Rhône varieties like carignan, counoise, grenache blanc and roussanne joining the Barossa standards. Key to Blieschke’s approach has been an emphasis on building resilience in the soil and vines, with a broader view to every aspect of the 100-hectare property, from caring for historic buildings to preserving and enhancing remnant native vegetation.

Gemtree, McLaren Vale

With the vineyard situated in McLaren Flat, the Gemtree mission is very much an ongoing quest to improve wine quality, but their ethos is inseparable from a desire to have a positive environmental impact both locally and globally. With an eye to the future, viticulturist Melissa Brown has planted varieties suited to an ever-warming Mediterranean climate – like nero d’avola and fiano – alongside the Vale classics of shiraz and grenache. The 125-hectare vineyard has been managed using biodynamic methods since 2007 – with it certified for almost a decade – to encourage a ‘living soil’ and build resilience in the vines, while an eco-reserve has been established to restore native flora and fauna, as well as to educate visitors.

Eden Hall, Eden Valley

David and Mardi Hall bought their Eden Valley property in 1996, planting vines the following year. It was the site of an older vineyard, but the vines were uprooted in the 1970s. That old vineyard was made up of cabernet sauvignon, malbec and riesling, with the Halls planting both the former and latter again, along with shiraz, cabernet franc, merlot and viognier, with grüner veltliner grafted somewhat more recently. All fruit goes to the Eden Hall wines. Dan Falkenberg tends to the viticulture on the 33-hectare site, where he focuses on increasing biodiversity and reducing water use through revegetation and practices like mulching and planting mid-row swards of native grasses. Eden Hall is also independent of external inputs of water and electricity, being off grid since 2019.

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.

Garden & Field – Gnadenberg Road, Eden Valley Peter Raymond

Garden & Field – Gnadenberg Road, Eden Valley

Penley Estate, Coonawarra

Oxford Landing, Riverland

Hoffmann Family – Mickan Vineyard, Barossa Valley

Torbreck – Hillside Vineyard, Barossa Valley

Gemtree, McLaren Vale

Eden Hall, Eden Valley

Hoffmann Family – Dallwitz Vineyard, Barossa Valley

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