Why it matters
The producer
Spinifex Wines was established in 2001 by Peter Schell and Magali Gely, with its winery in Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley. Their bottles draw on Barossa fruit and Eden Valley sites rather than treating South Australia as one uniform source: old-vine Mataro began the project, while Grenache, Shiraz, Cinsault and Counoise now shape a broader southern-French grape palette. The result is a range built around blends, varieties and vineyard contrasts rather than a single regional recipe.
Schell and Gely arrived from New Zealand in Australia in the early 1990s to study oenology and marketing at Roseworthy College. Spinifex followed in 2001, beginning with access to old-vine Mataro and then developing through relationships with growers in the Barossa and Eden Valleys. The important shift came through vineyard purchases: Rostein in 2014 and Dominion in 2018. The wines could then draw on both continuing grower connections and estate parcels, including cooler Eden Valley conditions and old Barossa Grenache and Shiraz.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Nuriootpa places the winery in the Barossa Valley, but Spinifex works across both Barossa and Eden Valley through long-standing grower relationships and its own vineyards. The difference matters in the glass because the two places offer different growing conditions. Dominion sits on the Barossa Valley floor, where century-old Grenache and Shiraz provide a deep-rooted estate source; Rostein, in Eden Valley, stands at elevation, with cool nights and a wider shift between daytime and night-time temperatures. Those sites allow warm-valley fruit and cooler-valley fruit to appear within the same producer’s range.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Spinifex’s vineyard work is organised around contrast rather than one grape or one district. Old-vine Mataro from drift-sand, century-old Grenache and Shiraz at Dominion, and the cooler nights at Rostein all provide distinct fruit sources before blending begins. That makes a grape blend more than a list on a label: Grenache, Shiraz, Cinsault and Counoise can be assembled from a South Australian vineyard network shaped by warm Barossa ground and higher Eden Valley conditions.
The available vineyard facts support a clear consequence for the range. Dominion supplies established Barossa vines at the valley floor, while Rostein’s elevation brings cool nights and a greater day-to-night temperature range. In red wines, that site contrast helps explain why a producer can make Grenache- and Shiraz-based bottles without relying on one fixed weight, tannin level or fruit register across every label.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range begins with Mataro’s place in the founding story, then opens into Grenache, Shiraz, Cinsault and Counoise. These grapes make the southern-French thread visible in a Barossa and Eden Valley setting. The 2023 Esprit is the clearest named blend: 82% Grenache, 12% Shiraz, 3% Cinsault and 3% Counoise. Grenache supplies the bulk of the blend, while Shiraz, Cinsault and Counoise make up the remaining 18%, so the label describes a Grenache-led red rather than a straight varietal wine.
Indigene and Lola show that Spinifex does not rely on one red-blend format. Their bottle notes describe distinct fruit, acidity, tannin, weight, texture and finish, which makes the range useful for comparing structure as well as grape names. Esprit is the blended red reference; Indigene and Lola extend the choice of fruit shape, palate weight and finish within the same Barossa–Eden Valley frame.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the 2023 Spinifex Esprit. It is a red blend of 82% Grenache, 12% Shiraz, 3% Cinsault and 3% Counoise, so one bottle introduces the producer’s southern-French grape focus without leaving the Barossa setting behind. Its structure should be read through the blend: Grenache is the main fruit component, while Shiraz, Cinsault and Counoise occupy smaller roles. Taste for fruit, acidity, tannin, texture and finish in that order, then compare it with Indigene or Lola to see how a different bottle changes the balance of weight and palate shape.