Spinifex Rose 2022

“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

Is this Australia's finest rosé? In spite of the relentless proliferation of rosé on the market, Peter Schell's wine--now into its second decade of production--keeps coming up roses. Reflecting an exceptionally low yielding vintage--Schell's dry grown vineyards offering just 15-20% of average--the composition of the '20 rosé weighs in with Mataro (59%) Grenache (35%), and Cinsault (6%). The dominance of Mataro this year reflects both the quality and this variety's late-flowering nature (which avoided the dramatic weather at flowering that hampered the other varieties). The vines are all dry-grown on Barossa vineyards, "mainly bush vines, all hand-picked--old school," chuckles Pete. The average age of vines is 65 years old although the oldest parcels range up to 120 years.