Kaesler Vineyard, Barossa Valley Nigel van der Zande

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  • Kaesler Vineyard, Barossa Valley

    The Kaesler Vineyard is in the heart of the Barossa, just outside the town of Nuriootpa. Originally planted in the late 19th century, since 1999 the old and ancient vines have been turning out premium and ultra-premium wines under the Kaesler label. The vineyard has been managed by Nigel van der Zande for over two decades, with his methods evolving down an increasingly sustainable and regenerative line, with a key focus on increasing carbon sequestration. Those processes have resulted in the fruit coming off the vineyard achieving desirable flavour and tannin ripeness at lower sugar levels, and the vines have demonstrated increased resilience in combatting extreme climatic conditions.

  • Bon View Vineyard, Barossa Valley

    The Bon View Vineyard has been in family hands since it was first planted in the 19th century. Those original shiraz vines still make wine today, though the bulk of the vineyard was planted in the 1960s by current viticultural custodian Ralph Schrapel’s father and grandfather. With the farming practices evolving over the generations to a less interventionist and more balanced approach that centres on soil health and water management, the fruit is pitched towards the premium and ultra-premium end. A four-decade-long collaboration with Peter Lehmann Wines means good homes for that juice, filling bottles such as the legendary ‘Stonewell’ Shiraz and ‘Mentor’ Cabernet Sauvignon.

  • Kalleske Farm Vineyard, Barossa Valley

    Kym Kalleske is the current custodian of the vines on his family’s near 170-year-old Barossa property. With the oldest vines some 147 years old, the vineyard has been biodynamically certified for over two decades, with the celebrated eponymous wine label – from classic Moppa Shiraz and Clarry’s GSM to the vibrantly fresh Parallax and Zeitgeist wines and up to the flagship Johann Georg Shiraz – just on 20 years old this year. Kym works with his parents and two brothers to ensure a rich family legacy will stretch long into the future through a focus on sustainability and regenerative agriculture.

  • Alkina Vineyard, Barossa Valley

    Alkina is a relatively new project on an old farm. First planted to vines by Les Kalleske in 1955 in the Barossa subregion of Greenock, the site boasts stone buildings dating back to the 1850s. When Argentinian vigneron Alejandro Bulgheroni bought the property in 2015, he planted new vines and embarked on a process of examining the site’s geology in microscopic detail over a five-year project. With general manager Amelia Nolan and vineyard manager Johnny Schuster both overseeing the certified biodynamic vineyard, the ongoing quest is to grow terroir-reflective fruit from Barossa heritage varieties and elaborate them with simple and transparent winemaking, both as blends of blocks and micro-parcels called ‘Polygons’.

  • Hayes Family – Stone Well Estate, Barossa Valley

    Brett Hayes bought his Stone Well Vineyard to form the basis of Hayes Family Wines, launching the label in 2014. The Stone Well Vineyard is a modest 4.5-hectare site populated mostly by vines planted in 1948 – now 77 years in the ground, with an average age of 75 years – with the farming ACO certified organic and the onsite winery equally certified. The Stone Well Vineyard is the sole source of the Hayes Family Wines Estate Range, with block-specific shiraz, grenache and mataro bottlings, a GSM blend, a red field blend and a white field blend across 12 individual blocks. Brett Hayes and vineyard manager Amanda Mader oversee the management of the site, with the shiraz previously sold to Grant Burge to make ‘Meshach’, their flagship wine, for over 30 years before Hayes redirected the fruit entirely to his own label.

  • 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.

  • 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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