Grocke’s path to his current style of viticultural management wasn’t straight. A trained viticulturist, he bought the vineyard in 2013 and inherited a site worn thin by decades of conventional farming – the fruit low in yeast nutrients, with weak ferments the result. “Since we bought the vineyard in 2013 we’ve seen the fruit go from being nutrient poor with troublesome ferments to fruit that is really singing in the glass,” he says. He ditched synthetics, leaning into organic and regenerative practices – no herbicides, no pesticides, just sulphur for mildew and copper as a fungus preventative in wet years. “We’ve never sprayed pesticides,” Grocke notes. Vines, mostly on their own roots, tap into subsoil moisture where the three streams meet – a natural lifeline in a region that averages under 500mm of rain per annum. “The vineyard is predominantly dry grown,” he explains – meaning no irrigation, save a rare drip feed for the youngest block, planted in 2017. The rows of the vineyard mix old-school 12 foot spacing with tighter modern grids – they’re pruned by hand to balance each season’s quirks, then picked following the lunar calendar.
The shift from conventional to regenerative viticulture has paid off. In early years the fruit had yeast-assimilable nitrogen (YAN) measurements of 30–50 mg/L, which meant that ferments would run the risk of becoming stuck (stopping before all of the grape sugars could be converted to alcohol) or developing undesirable off-flavours. Not so any longer. “Our YAN measurements have doubled to trebled since our first 2014 vintage,” Grocke says. Sheep graze winter weeds, reducing the need to mow to a single annual pass and enriching the soil with manure. “We graze sheep during the winter which controls weeds and minimises mowing,” he says. Netting shields the fruit from birds, boosting yields. “The vineyard now feels synergistic to its landscape and the soils beneath it,” Grocke reflects. That synergy extends to a complete lack of electricity in the vineyard – this helps costs stay low, and nature does the heavy lifting.
Magnolia’s voice is distinct in the Barossa, a region of clay-heavy soils and robust shiraz that has lured global interest since the 1840s. “I call the Magnolia Vineyard the feminine or elegant vineyard for the Barossa,” Grocke says. At 305–335 meters elevation, cool air drains down from the Eden Valley above into the gully the Magnolia Vineyard sits in, softening the inherent heat of its Barossa location. “The elevation and cold air drainage from the Eden Valley above helps retain freshness and acidity,” he explains. The Magnolia vineyard’s sandy soils – granitic, alluvial – drain fast, helping control vine vigour and concentrating flavour in the grapes. “The dry-grown nature also helps the TA [titratable acidity] and pH of the fruit and aid concentration,” he notes, which keeps the acidity lively and the fruit profile tight in the finished wines. Shiraz here leans northern Rhône rather than classic Barossa – refined, not brash, and picked early for vibrancy. “The vineyard wants to make Shiraz that is elegant and nuanced,” Grocke says. The whites varieties, like semillon, gleam with a salty, mineral snap. “In the whites, the granitic sands give wonderful tension in a saline, mineral way,” he adds. Old vines weave in vinous depth and a quiet intensity.
Grocke’s viticultural choices amplify these qualities. “Farming organically … farming regeneratively … dry growing … not using herbicides,” he lists as key components of his philosophy. Hand-destemming in the field – a wire rig over a bin – keeps berries whole, dodging unripe green stems in bigger bunches. “We made a hand wire destemmer that fits over a half tonne megabin,” he says – a small tweak to harvesting that aids purity in the finished wine. New plantings, like 2017 grenache blanc, nod to drought tolerance. “Grenache is the king of drought tolerance … so suitable/sustainable in our environment,” Grocke explains. A 2016 shiraz block, planted with cuttings sourced from Stonegarden’s 1858 vines, lifts the blend’s finesse. Few national peers – even amongst, say, the McLaren Vale’s polished organic growers – quite match this small gully’s lean elegance amongst the brute heft of its regional cohorts.
Vine health grows with time. “Each year that we farm organically and regeneratively, the soil health and vine health is improving,” Grocke says. Reworking old vines –cutting out diseased arms, layering new ones – keeps them humming. “We have an old vine reworking program,” he notes, which acts as a bid for vineyard longevity. The Barossa’s warm sprawl suits shiraz and grenache, but Magnolia’s cooler perch above refines these varieties. “The Barossa is a warm region with great soils for winegrowing and an unsurpassed collection of old vines,” Grocke says, yet he’s keen to push grenache blanc further – part of a bigger movement to rewrite the narrative of the Barossa away from its historic obsession with shiraz only. “It’s a variety I love to drink,” he says. “The cool site, deep granitic sands, and dry farming are perfectly suited to the variety.
Sustainability’s baked in to operations here. “We’re making our vineyard more sustainable by running it fully organically and regeneratively,” he says. A strict no-tillage program builds carbon in the soil; sheep help to cycle nutrients from cover crops back into the soil. A drone hovers now, scoping out the terroir for viticultural possibilities and new stories to tell. The climate presses in – hotter and drier every year – but Grocke remains committed to dry-growing, and the vines hold their balance firmly. His ‘a-ha’ moment? “The first time we netted the entire vineyard,” Grocke recalls, “was an ‘a-ha!’ moment in the level of preservation of fruit.” His favorite tale? A lamb trailing his dog Frankie through the rows. “The tranquility of the site” is what he loves most about it – a meditative perch above a bold valley.
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