In the early 1900’s, Peter Schell and his wife, Magali Gely came to Australia from New Zealand to study oenology and marketing at Roseworthy College. They have lived in the Barossa Valley for over 20 years and founded Spinifex in 2001. They both have a strong French connection and spent a while in the south of France, where they became even more interested in making unique, hand crafted wines with personality.
The focal point at Spinifex is the red varieties such as Mataro, Grenache, Shiraz and Cinsaut which dominate in the south of France. The wine is made in open fermenters, basket-pressed, with homegrown fermentations, and relatively long post-ferment maceration. The current wines are great and the best so far to come from this producer.
Grapes are collected from 50 to 120 year old, low yielding vineyards in both the Barossa and Eden Valleys, which take advantage of the great diversity of the soils and meso-climates in the area to produce wines with balance, character, depth of flavour and Barossan generosity.
