Spinifex Wines' French connection
The Spinifex magic at work, these four wines blend variety and place for near perfect scores.
No, there hasn’t been a typographical glitch: I have given all three wines profiled here 97 points, and a fourth the same. I was looking forward to the tasting, but the idea of using the same score materialised only as I worked my way through the wines.
Spinifex is the Barossa Valley winery of husband and wife Peter Schell and Magali Gely, who moved from New Zealand in the early ’90s to enrol at Roseworthy College. Over the next 10 years Schell spent six vintages in Provence, the Languedoc, Bordeaux and Burgundy, and Gely’s vigneron parents lived near Montpellier. Thus it is no surprise that they should have a strong French connection, both physically and philosophically, refreshed by frequent trips to France. The Barossa bond has been forged by establishing Spinifex in 2001. Before that Schell worked at Turkey Flat for four years, and in 2014 they purchased a 5.5ha vineyard in the Flaxman Valley. They continue to buy parcels of shiraz, mataro and grenache from growers spread across the Barossa and Eden Valleys.
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This reflects their conviction that the house style they desire comes from blends of variety and place (terroir, if you will). Thus La Maline is a blend of two parcels of shiraz from the High Eden subregion, one from the estate’s Rostein Vineyard, plus 2 per cent viognier. Sol Solstice, the inaugural release of Spinifex’s finest grenache, is wrought from the estate’s High Eden Vineyard (64 per cent) and an old vineyard in the heart of the Barossa Valley that Spinifex share farms (36 per cent).
Spinifex has sourced fruit from the small Moppa Vineyard every year since 2005, usually a blend of shiraz, grenache and mataro, but this is only the sixth 100 per cent shiraz.
The fourth wine is 2021 Spinifex Indigene, 52/48 per cent shiraz/mataro, with 30 per cent whole bunches in the shiraz. Open fermented and macerated 10 to 24 days, separately vinified, matured for 20 months in French oak (40% new). The Spinifex magic at work, the flavours sour yet not bitter, leaving a gently fresh finish and aftertaste.
2021 Spinifex Eden Valley La Maline
Uses two shiraz parcels from the High Eden subregion, plus a dash of viognier. The wine soars like a butterfly, its shimmering wings racing from raspberry to cinnamon, reflecting the inclusion of 20-45 per cent whole bunches and vines up to 70 years old. Eden Valley’s answer to pinot noir.
97 points, drink to 2043, 14.2% alc, screw cap, $80
2022 Spinifex Barossa Sol Solstice
Grenache sources from two vineyards in the High Eden and Barossa Valley. Hand-picked, but fully destemmed with eight days on skins pressed to used French oak for 10 months and bottles without fining or filtration. It’s all about purity and effortless balance.
97 points, drink to 2038, 14.3% alc, screw cap. $65
2021 Spinifex Moppa Vineyard Barossa Valley Shiraz
The bouquet is a gloriously perfumed mix of all spice, pepper and licorice, the palate every bit as vibrant as the aromas and then some. It has the magical mix of intensity and light-footed elegance that is a calling card of Spinifex, the bottle empty before you realise it.
97 points, drink to 2043, 14.2% alc, screw cap, $65