Pete Schell is crafting a flock of exciting whites from the Barossa and Eden Valleys these days, yet Lola is the original, and some would say most multi-layered, release. Semillon again takes centre stage, joined by Clairette, Ugni Blanc and Vermentino. The Semillon—a grape grown in the Barossa Valley since the 1850s—is sourced from three old-vine sites (65, 75 and 95 years old) in Ebenezer. The Clairette is from an elevated site in Rowland Flat on the valley's eastern side. This late-ripening grape, with excellent acid retention, provides additional freshness. Ugni Blanc and Vermentino contribute texture and a lick of salinity.

Schell’s extensive attention in the vineyards and a light touch in the shed have given us another exceptional release of this unconventional white. Matured on lees in mostly older wood, it’s a deliciously fresh, textured white blend, flush with stone fruits, citrus, salinity, spice and some lovely hay and talc notes. It’s fleshy with nice phenolic tension, bracing acidity and a long, savoury finish—one of Barossa’s most original whites and one of its best.

This is a terrific example of this variety, sourced from a one-acre vineyard on hard, ironstone-rich soil in one of the highest parts of Koonunga Hill in the Barossa’s extreme north. Vermentino is a rugged, hardy variety that Schell says ripens relatively slowly here, retaining acidity while delivering generous texture. Fermented wild after six hours on skins, it's a pure and textured Barossa white with waxy lemon, white blossoms and a touch of chalkiness. From a cool and long season, the palate is pithy and fresh, full of zip and with a breezy, grippy saline close. It would challenge many a top Italian example.

Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains—white Muscat or 'Fronti' in South Australia—has been responsible for some of Barossa’s greatest fortified wines. Most of the region’s Muscat vineyards are old, dry-grown and overseen by seasoned growers compelled to preserve a slice of Barossa history and resist a switch to more commercial varieties. Pete and Magali work with a 70-year-old, organically farmed vineyard in Moppa, in the northwest corner of the Barossa Valley. In Pete's words, it’s a site that delivers spectacular fruit.

In the cellar, Schell crushes the fruit prior to macerating for a couple of days before pressing it into old oak for fermentation. The wine undergoes partial malolactic fermentation to tone back Fronti’s natural exuberance, so although the nose offers roses, orange and some tropical notes, the whole remains subtle and balanced. The palate is loaded with orange, honey and flowers and shot through with fresh, zippy acidity. This is delicious and a lot of fun to drink.

Pete and Magali purchased their Dominion Vineyard near Vine Vale in the heart of the Barossa Valley in 2018. The low-fertility, four-hectare site sits at 285 metres, giving small crops marked by intense flavour and remarkable aromatic depth. Centurion Grenache and Shiraz vines (planted in 1908 and 1918) live in these sandy, gravelly and red clay soils, and in 2020, a small plot of just over an acre was planted to Grenache Gris. Old-vine Grenache has an exemplary track record around Vine Vale―neighbouring vines include Cirillo’s from the 1850s and Yalumba’s 1898 plantings―so, for Pete and Magali, planting Grenache Gris was a logical choice.

2023 was the first season to give a viable yield for a straight bottling of Grenache Gris. Pete left the fruit on skins for a few hours before pressing and fermentation in old puncheons, followed by eight months’ maturation on lees in foudre. There’s a lovely big whack flavour here: salty white peaches, fleshy orange citrus, some blossom and a hint of buttery richness. Then, the texture is plush and grippy with fresh, driving length. It’s a killer first release that will shine with salt and fat.

This may be the first 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. In 2022, they harvested their first crop, which they used in their Lola blend. This year, the crop from this one-acre block of dry-grown, gnarly old vines warranted its own bottling.

The Chenin fruit from this old site 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 in demi-muids.

Old vine magic here! It’s superbly intense on the nose, radiating fresh stone fruit, sunny warmth, grilled nuts and creamy lees. The texture is soft and giving, with pin-point acidity and more of those lovely Chenin fruit tones. Long and mouthwatering on the finish, this is a belter of a first release—and a sign of great things to come. 

In 2018, Pete and Magali purchased the mature (established 1945), four-hectare, dry-grown Rostein Vineyard in Eden’s Flaxman Valley, planted to roughly one-third Riesling and two-thirds Shiraz. The soils are lean, degraded granitic sands, and the vineyard sits at 475 to 495 metres above sea level. Two parcels of organically managed Riesling give rise to two wines. The Rostein Riesling is made from the 1945 vines, and this cuvée is made from the 1956 section.

The fruit was hand-harvested at crazy-low yields for Riesling: a paltry 0.8 tonnes per acre. This year, the fruit spent two hours macerating before the press wine was fermented in used, 500-litre French oak; the free-run went to tank. In both cases, the wine spent four months on lees and went through partial malolactic conversion before blending.

In our opinion, this is one of Australia’s finest Rieslings, even if it is made in such small quantities that many will never have the chance to taste it. The 2022 has remarkable intensity, complexity and texture. Seductive aromas of white flowers, ripe citrus and a touch of sweet apple are matched by piercing acidity and a nip of phenolics that cut through the mouth-filling texture. It’s bright, super long and simply outstanding value.

This is the first vintage of Spinifex’s flagship Rostein Riesling, released after six years in bottle. Spinifex’s two-acre Rostein vineyard is home to two parcels of seriously old Riesling, one planted in 1945 and the other in 1957. These parcels produce minuscule yields—a paltry 0.8 tonnes per acre is the norm—resulting in wines of atypical power.

The fruit comes predominantly from the 1945 parcel—some of Australia’s oldest Riesling vines—facing east at almost 500 metres. The dry-grown vines sit on sandy loam over quartz and gravel soils. After fermentation, the wine aged on lees for 11 months in 1,000-litre neutral oak and went through partial malolactic conversion. It was bottled after a further 14 months. 2017 was a cool, lean, citrus-driven year in the Eden Valley, so Pete decided to hold the wine back for a few years, allowing the fruit to flesh out and the acidity to mellow and integrate.

This unique, textured, layered bottle-aged wine has mouthwatering intensity and length. Some lovely developing characters add complexity to more classic refreshing notes of citrus, florals, lime, cream and honey. Then there’s a smoky wisp and saline tang on the long, grippy close. Class.

This is the fourth bottling of La Solana—a multi-vintage, barrel-matured, ‘perpetual blend’ white that Schell maintains in a modified solera system. Started in 2005, the blend is kept in old barriques that are topped up with white wine parcels that would otherwise have gone into Lola. The barrels are stored outside in the elements, hence the name Solana, meaning “under the sun”. The composition of La Solana mirrors that of Lola over the years, i.e., it is based on Barossa and Eden Valley’s Ugni Blanc, Semillon, Clairette, Viognier and Roussanne.

This latest bottling is wonderful. The style falls somewhere between Amontillado and Vin Jaune. It’s nutty and salty, showing citrus peel and ripe stone fruits with tremendous purity and freshness. It’s a unique wine that could be served and consumed as you might a dry Sherry, even though it’s not fortified and is lower in alcohol (making it far more drinkable).