This is the debut release of Spinifex Grenache Gris, and it's a wine that we should all be very excited about. When Pete Schell purchased the Dominion Vineyard in 2018, they quickly set to work planting varieties they believed suitable to this unique path of land, including the scarce Southern Rhone white variety Grenache Gris. This marks the first official release of this wine, and it's a beauty. The fruit spent a few hours on skins, before fermentation in old oak puncheons, followed by eight months’ maturation on lees in foudre. It's packed with glorious white and yellow fruits, with some creamy texture from the winemaking influence, and a pithy, salty finish that pulls it all together. Great with food or on its own, and a statement about the suitability of this variety to the Barossa Valley.

Beautifully sculpted, racy, red-and-blackberry-fruit along with a lifted rosehip note as well, and some inky depths on the driven finish. Gets more and more perfumed and lively with air, it's another terrific effort from one of Australia's most gifted wine people. The wine, naturally fermented with a judicious use of whole clusters (on average 30%) in a combination of stainless steel, wood and concrete fermenters, also sees a shorter maturation than the Esprit and Bête Noir, et al. The 2018 was cropped from five high, exposed parcels in the Barossa and Eden Valley, where the soils are generally poor and skeletal - for the most part light, gravelly and silty sands over deeply weathered base rocks of varied origins. Vine age varies from 25 to 115 years old (averaging 50 years old), and all fruit is hand harvested. Spinifex was started in 2001 with the opportunity to source some great old vine Mataro growing in deep white drift-sand on the Barossa Valleys Western Ridge. Owned by husband and wife team, Peter Schell and Magali Gely, their focus is on regional wines from the traditional Mediterranean grape varieties that have been grown successfully in Australia for over 150 years - Shiraz, Mataro, Grenache, Cinsault, Carignan, Ugni Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne and Semillon. They aim to make wines that display signatures of vineyard provenance and vintage, show regional typicity and have a consistent thread of 'house style' that reflects their preferences and experiences with wine. The wines they choose to make are predominately blends, the synergies derived from blending wines of differing character enhance the subtle complexities, even textures and profound personalities delivered from great old vine vineyards.

Elegant and medium bodied, Indigene by Spinifex is a Shiraz Mataro blend typically displaying ripe red and black complemented by forest floor and savoury undertones hinting of the Old World. The fruit is sourced from selected vineyards averaging in age between 60-100 years, providing the blend with impressive intensity and depth of flavour. Following traditional vinification, the wine is aged in seasoned French oak.