Wines

 

Vinya Vella began with an old vineyard and just one wine, one ferment, one big barrel. We've kept it simple since. One Grenache, and a smaller quantity of Rosé from the younger vines.

The fruit for the Old Vine Grenache is managed carefully all season long. It starts at pruning, working to the capacity of each vine. In spring we select the strongest shoots, then adjust light and airflow through the canopy with leaf and bunch removal, all by hand. None of it is fast. All of it goes into getting the best fruit we can each year.

The old vine block is mapped vine by vine, every year, to track relative health, balance and phenology. That mapping guides harvest, so fruit is picked as it ripens rather than left to hang too long. Multispectral aerial imaging backs up what we see on the ground.

The wine is made with the help of a great friend and mentor, Peter Schell of Spinifex, whose vineyard sits less than 2km from ours. We work minimally together, aiming to capture what's unique about these old, own-rooted bush vines on deep sand. The style may shift as the vineyard matures and we learn more, but the wine will always stay honest to the vintage. We'll keep trying new things too, exploring the best way to manage these vines and the fruit they give us. That's the exciting part of this, bringing global experience, curiosity and this particular patch of soil together in one place.

This one block yields somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 bottles a year, all of it. There's no second source and no way to make more. Get in touch for the chance to share this vineyard, and the story behind it, in a bottle, or join the mailing list below to hear about each release first.

Dylan

Our Wines:

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