Description
Peter Schell and his French born wife Magali Gely started Spinifex back in 2001 – in a short time have made a name for themselves as producers of fine elegant and sophisticated Barossa red blends. Peter hails from NZ originally but he and Magali are firm Barossaphiles with a great love of the ancient Barossa soils (100 million years old whereas in Bordeaux the soils date back to the last iceage 40,000-100,000 years) and the old vines. Inspired by time spent working many vintages in the south of France their love is the local varieties there – Mataro, Grenache, Shiraz and Cinsault. What sets them apart is their attention to detail and total hands on winemaking.
They are not interested in making blockbuster wines – they seek finesse and complexity (aromatics, line and length) in their wines…Sourcing small parcels of fruit from small family growers and their use of multiple small fermentation tanks allows them to ferment small parcels separately rather than pooling them – a very French technique – which means more ingredients to play with and absolute precision for blending.
‘Pete and his partner Magali Gely operate what I think is the best new-wave of small-scale Barossa wine companies to emerge at the beginning of the 21st century… These weren’t big, blockbuster, showy wines designed to impress. They were wines that managed to take the best of the Barossa’s sometimes forgotten varietal traditions and fuse them onto a very European flavour sensibility.’ Max Allen, The future makers.
‘It seems that Spinifex wines can do no wrong.’ Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
“Making wine in Provence over two vintages in the early 2000’s gave us an exposure to old vine Ugni blanc that at the time was a bit of a mind bend, subtle, savoury edged dry whites with power, texture and personality, wines that bore no resemblance to what we expected from Ugni blanc (aka Trebbiano). Retrospectively we shouldn’t have been too surprised – old vineyards, respectfully hand tended and harvested, vinified simply – it’s a situation and approach that tends to deliver the best of what nature has to offer. It was an experience that planted a seed in our minds and broadened our vision back in the Barossa.” Peter Schell
Old vine Ugni Blanc is one of the Barossa’s great, untapped resources, and after years of underwriting the Lola blend, in 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. One of two new single varietal white wines made in 2017, this textural white is sourced from a tiny single vineyard in Altona (located in the central-southern stretches of the Barossa Valley) planted sometime in the early 1900s. Grown in a pocket of deep white sand by an energetic and charismatic Italian gentleman, Pete Schell notes that this vineyard has consistently delivered characterful and persuasive wines for the ten or so years that we have been receiving the fruit (for the Lola blend et al.). The fruit was hand-picked, fermented as whole clusters with indigenous yeasts and matured on lees in a seasoned French oak demi muid for eight months prior to bottling without filtration.
It’s a delightfully pithy, perfumed white with gentle citrus peel and crunchy pear, and a gentle grip on the finish. Incredibly delicate, pure and refreshing with excellent pulpy texture to balance its raciness. As with all Pete Schell whites don’t serve them too cold and give them plenty of aeration when they are young.
RRP $32 * 6 PACK BUY … Only $28.50 when you buy 6 of this wine *
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