Jason Schwarz has wine in his DNA, a fifth generation Barossan, he was raised on his parent's vineyard. Firstly, he studied wine marketing, before realising that winemaking was his true calling.
Winery
Read morePatrick of Coonawarra are well situated to make exceptional wines. Founder and original wine maker, Pat Tocaciu spent years working as Chief Winemaker for a number of big wineries before buying and settling at a vineyard over 20 years ago in Coonawarra.
Read moreThe Kaesler family arrived in the Barossa Valley from Silesia in the 1840s and in 1891 purchased land in the Barossa, spending two years furiously planting. They planted 96 acres of Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro, along with a few white varieties. Some of the original Shiraz vines are still producing grapes which provide great intensity and depth to many of Kaesler’s wines.
Read moreKirrihill Wines has been around since the late 1990s when two mates, Sean Edwards and Rob Stanway realised their dream of starting a winery. Both 6th generation Clare locals, they have known each other since they were toddlers. Kirrihill Wines has grown into quite the behemoth with 1,400 acres to draw on and sales in Australia, Europe, USA and China.
Read moreFounded in 2005, Murray Street Vineyards (MSV) is set on exceptional vineyards in the Greenock sub region. Currently, MSV farm around 300 acres situated in the celebrated ‘Western Ridge’ of the Barossa, 130 acres in Gomersal, and 170 in Greenock. These acres hold predominantly Grenache and Shiraz vines, dating back to the 1940s and 1960s.
Read morePindarie first produced wine under the Pindarie label in 2005. They have 100 acres planted on their 750 acre farm situated on the Barossa Valley’s Western Ridge. Fruit from the Western Ridge inspired the genesis of Spinifex Wines and forms the backbone of JJ Hahn, Murray Street, Kalleske and many other top end Barossa producers besides. Warren Randal of Seppeltsfield fame has also been snapping up vineyards in this part of the Barossa of late.
Tony Brooks from team Pindarie is a 6th generation pastoralist. He restored the stone buildings on site by hand, in the process earning for Pindarie a coveted and difficult to get Barossa Trust Mark…
Viticulturist Wendy Abrahart spent 12 years at Penfolds, becoming their senior viticulturist in the process before setting up and continuing to manage the 100 acre Pindarie vineyard.
Read moreThe Wallaroo Estate, located in the Canberra Wine District only 25 minutes from Parliament House in Canberra, comprises 300 undulating acres in the Hills of Hall area, with views over the Brindabella Mountains. Wallaroo Wines has about 100 acres under vine, yet make only about 800 dozen themselves from their best fruit. The balance of their fabulous cool climate fruit is supplied to several wineries rated 5 red stars by James Halliday, including Clonakilla, Nick O’Leary and Gundog Estate. The vineyard was established in 1996, with plantings of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and riesling. It sits at an altitude of 560 metres, and includes plantings on a northern slope of decomposed granite. Climate conditions in the vineyard are similar to those in the vineyards of the Adelaide Hills and Clare Valley wine regions. Their winemaker is Dr Roger Harris, who with his wife Fay, established another successful local winery, the Brindabella Hills Winery. While Wallaroo Wines produce both still and
Read moreCrabtree has been around for a mighty long time – the house that forms the current cellar door was first built in 1949. Grapes arrived in the 1880s, though the original plantings aren’t around today. The Glaetzer family planted more vines in the 1930s and plantings from the 1940s still bear fruit which form the backbone of Crabtree wines today. In the early 80s Robert Crabtree bought the property and planted more vines, adding Tempranillo and extra Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet. He garnered an excellent reputation for Riesling, Cabernet and Shiraz up until 2007 when he sold out (whilst retaining a shareholding).
These days the wine is made by Riesling legend Kerri Thompson. Kerri has done Vintages with Tim Adams, Ben Riggs at Wirra Wirra, in France and at famed Italian winery
First Creek have exceptional vineyard resources in the Hunter Valley, Orange and Hilltops regions of NSW. In a roundabout way they began when Greg Silkman bought The Tamburlaine winery in 1986, then went on to acquire Allanmere Wines before buying up even more high quality vineyards. Winemaker Liz has an amazing palate which is evident by her being awarded dux of the prestigious Len Evans tutorial, which James Halliday describes as the most exclusive wine school in the world. She has also been crowned Winemaker of the year at the Hunter Valley Legends awards.Read more
We can very happily vouch for their quality, as does James Halliday. Halliday rates First Creek Wines as a 5-red star producer, and offers the following… ‘The quality of the wines has been consistently exemplary, and there is every reason to believe this will continue in the years to come.’
Read moreWe are now importing FOUR Champagne Houses direct from the source in Champagne, France. Our newest producer is Roger Brun and we decided to bring in just two of his best Champagnes to begin with, his Réserve Grand Cru and Cuvée des Sires. Both offer a breathtaking intensity of flavour and complexity. The Brun family have been vignerons since prior to the French revolution. Noted Champagne expert and author, Michael Edwards included these two cuvées in the following description “Now on to the exceptional Roger Brun Cuvées that really count… the Réserve Grand Cru is made only from Ay grapes, four fifths Pinot Noir, the rest Chardonnay, with 50% reserve wine… a wine for fine cuisine. Finally, two truly great wines fermented in Oak [including] the Cuvée des Sires, a classic Ay 70/30 mix of Pinot and Chardonnay, has strength and finesse in equal measure, lemony aromas ceding to butter and toast…”
Read moreWe love it when old friends re-join the winedirect.com.au family. We’re pretty darn happy to be featuring Barossa winery Rolf Binder and the premium wines that they have to offer. After meeting various key players in the wine industry in the early 50s, when Rolf Heinrich Binder and his wife Franziska arrived from Austria and Hungary respectively, they purchased Langmeil Road Winery in 1955 and renamed it ‘Veritas’, inspired by the Latin quote ‘In Vino, Veritas’ – In wine, (there is) truth. In 2005, the winery changed its name to ‘Rolf Binder’ to honour Rolf Heinrich Binder who passed in 2003. Recently, the business has expanded throughout Australia and also internationally, exporting to some 19 countries with their ‘Magpie Estate’ and ‘JJ Hahn’ labels. In 2005, Rolf Binder (junior) was named ‘Barossa Valley Winemaker of the Year’.
Read moreSo Adam’s been bugging Matt to get in Jericho Wines for about the last year and finally he has caved! Neil Jericho is a superstar winemaker, launching his own small brand after 35 years of winemaking in the Rutherglen and King Valley Regions of Victoria as well as Portugal. He’s been a senior winemaker with Campbells, Brown Brothers, All Saints and Taylor's where he was chief winemaker for 16 years. At Brown Brothers, he was in charge of the Kindergarten winery, making many small batches of wines, allowing Brown Brothers to research, develop and nurture new wines and varieties with exceptional promise. Here he had the opportunity to play with new varieties, new and old winemaking methods and new vineyard sites. He’s now making stunning wines with his son, garnering praise like the following from James Halliday - “Winemaking of the highest quality; a star in the making.” And Philip White - “It’s very rare that we see a new brand emerge with