Stonewell's Barossa Vineyards

Stonewell's Barossa Vineyards are located on the western side of the Barossa, in South Australia, 4km from Tanunda and 1km from the famous palm lined Seppeltsfield Road and the village of Marananga. Owned and operated by Evan and Tina Gobell, the family property covers 42 Hectares (103 Acres), a large portion of the valley of Stonewell.

Within this valley, early settlers built their cottages, sowed crops and established vineyards, but most importantly, dug wells for their water supply. Persistence and back breaking work resulted in one of these wells being dug through solid stone, unfortunately supplying only limited water, but giving the area its name, Stonewell. Stonewell is a highly regarded sub region within the Western Barossa and due to it's location, has its own micro-climate which results in unique characteristics and flavours in the premium wines produced.

The property currently has 30 Hectares (75 Acres) under vine, growing red varieties Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Franc.

High quality fruit for local winemakers

Evan and Tina work closely with small Barossa wineries and winemakers, supplying high quality grapes for the production of premium red wines, as well as the production of their estate grown single vineyard wine, Pfeif & Bell Stonewell Shiraz.

Pfeif & Bell Stonewell Shiraz

For six generations, since 1839, our families have farmed regional South Australia, and in 1955 began the planting of the vineyards at Stonewell. The name Pfeif & Bell is an amalgamation of our two family names Pfeiffer and Gobell.  This single vineyard wine from our Shiraz Block No.1 is a tribute to our pioneer ancestors who bravely travelled to the new world in South Australia, from Germany and England in 1839 with hopes and dreams of building themselves a new life. Their pioneering spirit and tenacity lives on in us and our daughters Ruby and Elsie.

This wine has been made in partnership with wine maker Stuart Bourne. Traditionally fermented in a small open fermenter, before soft pressing to oak maturation for just over a year. This classic western Barossa Shiraz shows lifted and bright ripe aromas of blue, red and black fruits, with just a hint of background oak influence. Rich and dense in the mid-palate, with a wonderful elegance and softness to the finish.

When you stay with us a Stonewell Cottages, you will receive a bottle of this limited release wine to enjoy, with our compliments.

Sustainable Vineyard Practices

Stonewell's Vineyard operations are Sustainability Wine Australia accredited. All of our vineyard management practices are designed to minimise fuel usage and chemical usage, and maximise the efficient use of irrigation water during the summer months. We do not use any pesticides and weeds are controlled by a combination of sowing a crop, such as oats, peas and/or tritacle in the vine rows during winter and mechanical weeding under the vine rows in spring. Evan has also developed multi-tool machinery which reduces the number of vine row passes needed for each process, thereby reducing fuel usage. Irrigation of the vines via dripper line systems is monitored closely with inground probes. Watering is kept to a minimum, aiming for low or controlled tonnages, which helps produce high quality wine grapes, for which our vineyards are known.

The Seasons in the Vineyard

During your stay at Stonewell Cottages you can experience real life on a working Barossa vineyard property, talk first hand with the vigneron, not just see, but be part of the seasonal activities in action and learn about the grape growing process. You may be suprised to discover how much goes into producing the grapes that make your favourite wine. Growing grapes is a year round job. It's not just picking the grapes. What ever the season you stay, there is always something different to be a part of, a different exprience to learn from and a different view to be enjoyed.

Late Summer - Early Autumn

Late summer (February) and early autumn (March-April) is Harvest time in the Barossa, which puts you where the action is – right in the vineyard!

Harvest usually begins by mid February and is finished around Easter time. The grapes in the vineyards surrounding the cottages are mainly harvested with a machine grape harvester, although some of our older blocks are hand picked, due to the fragility of the old vines. Most of the machine harvesting work is undertaken during the cool hours of the night. This ensures the berries pick easily and do not begin premature fermentation, as would be the case on a warm day.

If you stay with us during these months and are interested in coming out to the vineyard to see how the harvester works, we can arrange for a personalized hands-on tour, available exclusively for our in-house guests.

The Grenache bush vines behind Cupid’s Cottage are still hand pruned in the traditional way, without any form of trellis. This different growth technique and management, produces unique flavour characteristics in the final product. We always have a spare bucket and snips on hand, and welcome our guests to try their hand at grape picking!

Late Autumn - Winter

By late Autumn time (May), Harvest is finished, cover crops have been sown in the vine rows, and the vines begin to head into winter dormancy. The Autumn splendour begins, as the vine leaves turn golden yellow before they begin to fall, but the work in the vineyard continues. At the start of winter (June), slowly but surely, every single vine in the 30 hectares (75 acres) of vineyard is hand pruned. Some blocks are what we call 'rod and spur' pruned with new rods tied down every year, while some blocks are spur pruned, maintaining a permanent cordon along the trellis wire from year to year. Winter is also the time that we replace broken vineyard posts, repair trellis wires, re-work selected vineyard blocks,  remove others and prepare to re-plant new blocks.

Spring

By the start of Spring (September), pruning is finished. As the days begin to get warmer, the vines come out of their winter dormancy and fresh new green growth begins to appear. We call this 'bud burst', as fresh shoots begin to grow. This is a particularly busy and also vunerable time in the vineyard. All of the mid-row cover crops are mowed down. This is done for two principle reasons; ensure the vines absorb the winter ground moisture instead of the cover crop, and to minimise the frost risk. Early mornings in spring can be characterised by below freezing conditions, dreaded frost, which can damage the fresh green shoots. If severe or a 'black frost' occurs, the shoots get burnt off and the entire season's grape crop can be wiped out in a single night. Cold air flows like water, so by keeping the ground mown flat, the cold air can flow easily to the dams, instead of 'pooling' in the vineyards and freezing the new vine shoots. While Spring is a beautiful time, it is also a high risk period which can mean anxious and sleepless nights for us.

As the taste and style of wines change, so the vineyards must keep changing too. New vines may be planted or grafted, irrigation infrastructure maintained and the ground under-vine cultivated so that the weeds and vine prunings can be returned to the soil. At Stonewell Vineyards we are conscious of the life of our soil and aim for minimal use of herbicides and fungicides within our management system.  Flowering occurs in late spring, around mid-November. Grape vines are self polinating, so do not need bees. But bees are certainly still good to have around! As the flowers begin to fall, the tiny grape bunches form. We call this 'fruit set'.

Early Summer

By the start of summer (December) the new canes and leaf growth of the vines approaches full maturity and the grape bunches, while still green, increase in size. The work in the vineyard continues. Moisture control through irrigation from our dams becomes critically important as we deliver water via our dripper line system. Removal of water shoots in the older vines, training of young vines and trimming of the vine canopies occurs before Christmas. In mid-January, the vine canes harden and turn brown, known as lignification, and photosynthesis begins. This is when the grapes increase in size, soften and change colour as they begin to produce natural sugar. This is called 'veraison'. It is also the time shen we begin to get all of the harvesting equipment ready. Harvester, truck and trailers, and tractors are all serviced to ensure we are ready go when the grapes are ready!