This is just the third release of Spinifex’s Chenin Blanc, but these vines have been around for almost a century. Pete and Magali have been working with the old bush-vine Grenache and Shiraz from this ancient site in the Angaston foothills for well over 10 years, all the while eyeing an opportunity with the small Chenin block on the property. They harvested their first crop in 2022, and the wine is now a tenured addition to the Spinifex portfolio.

The one-acre block is nestled at the highest point of the vineyard. The exact age of the vines is unknown, but it’s widely accepted that these gnarly, dry-grown vines are tipping the 90- to 100-year-old mark. Even in ideal growing conditions, a tonne of fruit is about the best yield you could hope for from the entire block. The Chenin holds natural breadth and intensity of flavour, so Pete picks early to capture natural freshness and preserve balance. The fruit is crushed without destemming and pressed to French oak for fermentation, followed by partial malolactic conversion and maturation for ten months in demi-muids. 

Pete Schell is crafting a flock of exciting whites from the Barossa. Lola is the original and, some would say, most multi-layered release. Semillon has taken the lead for the last few years and again plays a commanding role 2025. It’s joined by Grenache Gris and Clairette. The Semillon—a grape grown in the Barossa Valley since the 1850s—is sourced from 90+-year-old, low-yielding vines in Ebenezer. The Grenache Gris is estate fruit from Spinifex’s Dominion Vineyard, and the Clairette is from an elevated site in Rowland Flat on the valley's eastern side. The old-vine Semillon brings weight, Grenache Gris lends citrus and spice, and the late-ripening Clairette, with its excellent acid retention, provides a mouthwatering pop of freshness. 

Schell’s attention in the vineyards and a light touch in the shed have given us another exceptional release of this unconventional white. Each parcel was picked by hand and spent 2-4 hours on skins before being destemmed and pressed to a combination of stainless steel (Clairette and Semillon) and mature French oak (Grenache Gris). The wines spent six months on lees before being blended and bottled. A portion of the Semillon went through malolactic conversion. As with all the Spinifex whites, this will shine at the dining table. It’s as savoury as it is primary, with fleshy, medium-weight, citrus, spice and herb notes and a delicious, juicy texture

Old vine Ugni Blanc is one of the Barossa’s great, untapped resources, and after years of underwriting the Lola blend, since 2017 Pete Schell has finally given it its own house. This variety, known as Trebbiano in Italy, has been grown in the Barossa Valley since the 1850s — evidence enough of its suitability to grow in the local soils and local climate. 

This textural white is sourced from a tiny single vineyard in Ebeneezer planted sometime in the early 1900s. Planted within the Cinsault vines are a hundred or so Ugni Blanc vines of the same age which Spinifex harvests prior to picking the Cinsault (for the Papillon blend).  The fruit was hand-picked, destemmed and crushed and left on skins for 12 hours before pressing. Wild fermented and aged on lees in a seasoned French oak demi muid for nine months prior to bottling without filtration.        

Spinifex’s provençal-styled rosé is among the best this country offers, and 2025 is another stellar release. This year, the blend comprises Grenache (45%) and Mataro (55%) sourced from four dry-grown sites in Angaston, Ebenezer, Vine Vale and the southern end of the Bethany foothills. Soils vary across the sites from gravelly sand to red clay, and vine age ranges from 25 to 90 years. The (predominantly) bush vines are dry-grown.

Each batch spent two to six hours on skins before being pressed to tank for fermentation. A small portion of the wine went through malolactic conversion, and maturation took place on lees in tank for six months. The resulting wine offers the kind of energy and snappy, crunchy lines that were once the exclusive domain of the finest Provence rosés.

Pete Schell's Papillon was one of the first of the mod-Barossa wines to show that ripeness and depth of flavour needn’t come at the expense of freshness and vineyard clarity. All these years later it remains at the very top of its game. If anything, it has never been in better form.

Papillon is crafted from a range of old vine, dry grown Grenache (75%) and Cinsault (25%) vineyards, located in the east and far northern reaches of the Barossa Valley. The average age of these low yielding vines today sits at 90 years old! Each vineyard is hand harvested when just ripe to, In Schell’s words, "...ensure natural acids, freshness, spice and the fresher, edgier tannins are preserved".

It's a wine that would make a top southern Rhône producer proud. It sports a deliciously crunchy texture, cleansing acidity, savoury grip, and is somehow perfectly integrated with the wine’s generous fruit giving a delicious sense of balance. As always, the wine is naturally fermented with a portion of whole bunches and pulled out of large format old wood after six months with the same logic.