The Stone Well Vineyard was planted in 1948 with the Barossa stalwarts of grenache, shiraz and mataro, more recently joined in 2019 by a small white field blend planting of around 400 vines – grenache blanc, marsanne and clairette – planted at high density. What makes the 1948 plantings remarkable is not just their age but the intuition of the original planters: shiraz on the more fertile sections, mataro on the heavy clay, grenache on the tough, shallow, rocky ground. “If I were to replant the vineyard, the same varieties would go in the same spots,” says Hayes. “They knew what they were doing.” That instinctive variety-to-soil matching, made at a time when soil testing and viticulture science were in their infancy, has proven itself across eight decades – and today the site’s 12 blocks, each managed and fermented separately, produce wines of striking individuality from what is, by Barossa standards, a very small footprint.
“The block has interplanted grenache, shiraz and mataro. Tough soils. Low water retention. Old vines, own roots, organically certified. Very, very expressive fruit. The resultant wine is unique. Notwithstanding changing years – with different varieties dominating in different years – there is a character, a five-spice character that runs through the vintages of this wine.”
Stone Well sits in a distinctive pocket of the Barossa between Tanunda and Marananga – a district characterised by shallow, rocky soils with very little topsoil. Where Tanunda tends to produce more fruit-forward wines and Marananga delivers fruit richness and power, Stone Well’s tough soils give wines a density and tightness that is quite its own. “Even on our site,” says Hayes, “the hillside section runs east-west and is really tough growing conditions, the flat areas run north-south, and produce very different grapes despite having the same clones and the same planting dates.” That internal variability across 4.5 hectares – elevation, aspect, soil depth, drainage – is the engine of the range’s complexity.
The character this produces is not immediately pretty. Hayes grows with full grass cover throughout the vineyard, and approaching Christmas the vines have a rough, worked-over look that is at odds with the manicured, bare-soil aesthetic that the Barossa’s German farming heritage traditionally prized. “My best mate, an old German grower in his late seventies, is offended by how it looks as we approach Christmas,” Hayes says. “My winemaker won’t look at the vines as we approach vintage – they always look like they have lived a tough life.” But the grapes they produce are another matter: intense small berries, high tannin, fiercely expressive of their block and their conditions. “We have very few gaps, our vines are survivors and will continue to be.”
The organic conversion – certified through ACO, with Sustainable Winegrowing Australia membership alongside – has deepened over time into something more systemic than a farming method. Synthetic chemicals are not used. Sulphur and copper use have been progressively reduced, with both kept to the minimum necessary to maintain plant health without compromising the predatory insect and bat populations that provide natural pest management. Indian runner ducks patrol the vineyard for snails. Over 500 native plants have been established around the site – Christmas bush, prickly tea-tree, wallaby grass – as insectary plantings that support brown and green lacewings, transverse ladybird beetles, orb spiders, shield bugs and native wasps. Raptor perches positioned across the vineyard attract goshawks, black-shouldered kites and collared sparrowhawks, while bat boxes support resident lesser long-eared bats and Gould’s wattled bats, both of which play a significant role in suppressing light brown apple moth larvae – a particular concern in the tight-bunched grenache. “By enhancing vineyard biodiversity with native insectary plants this provides habitat for beneficial insects,” says Mader, “which in turn provides a food source for beneficial birds – and that provides a source of food to bring predatory birds to enhance functional diversity and nature-based control strategies.” No netting has been required to date.
The soil data confirms the direction of travel. Tracking organic carbon, nitrate nitrogen and phosphorus across Blocks 1 and 8 from 2019 to 2025 shows a significant and sustained upward trend across all three measures since the conversion from conventional to organic farming. This has improved soil water infiltration and water-holding capacity at depth, building drought resilience and reducing dependence on irrigation. The vineyard is connected to the Barossa BIL scheme and the irrigation infrastructure has been upgraded to block-by-block control by variety. But the aim is to need it less. “Our vines will outlive us,” says Hayes, “but only if the land stays healthy, balanced and alive.”
Those vine-to-soil connections translate directly into block character in the glass. The Estate Mataro illustrates the point precisely. Block 3 – planted on heavy east-facing clay soils – produces concentrated, austere fruit with exceptional tannin structure. Block 4, the same 1948 plantings but running east-west rather than north-south, yields a more fruit-forward profile. Blending the two, Hayes found a wine of far greater breadth and consumer accessibility without sacrificing the site’s fundamental character. “We see it as a way of promoting a more consumer-friendly style of mataro without sacrificing the integrity we see in Block 3,” he says.
The most singular expression of the vineyard is Block 8, an interplanted field of grenache, shiraz and mataro from the original 1948 planting. The soils are tough, water retention is low, yields are very low, and the fruit is organically certified on its own roots. “The block with its old vines provides a consistent character that transcends the vintage year,” says Hayes. “The wine could come from nowhere else, and now, with a number of vintages behind us, we can honestly say the wine is a truly unique reflection of our site.” That character – a five-spice note that runs through the wine regardless of which variety dominates in a given year – is what makes it the emotional centrepiece of the range.
Hayes notes that “weather conditions seem significantly more unpredictable,” and that the discipline of managing Stone Well is to resist the temptation of repeating last year’s program. “Each year is different, and our actions in the vineyard are different,” he says. “Too many people rinse and repeat, but that is not our strategy.” A new Australian-patented technology for monitoring bunch weight in real time while still on the vine is currently being trialled at Stone Well – measuring daily and hourly changes to track yield, understand the effects of irrigation and heat events, and improve harvest timing decisions. The site has also recently experienced a fire in Block 8 – a restoration project that will occupy the team for several seasons ahead. Neither setback changes the fundamental proposition: old vines, isolated site, organic farming, block-by-block expression. “I just love waking up, walking outside and looking at the vineyard each and every day,” says Hayes. “Our vineyard is so individual.”
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