The Barossa really needs no introduction. For this is one of Australia’s most well known wine regions – boasting a vinous history dating back almost 180 years.
It’s famous for its big and bold wines (truly leaning into the whole bigger is better mindset), but it is not an entirely homogenous area.
The Barossa is a broad term for the many wineries that call this region home, whether their location is in the warm parts of Tanunda or the cooler heights of the Eden Valley. Their style and approach to winemaking also varies greatly from winery to winery.
It’s all a part of the region’s charm, as the diversity of subregions and wineries that fall under the Barossa banner only adds to its colourful character.
To help you understand this renowned region a little more, we have decided to highlight five local wineries – calling out what makes them so special.
Barossa Valley Wine Company
Chief Winemaker Jamie Saint says: At Barossa Valley Wine Company, we blend traditional craftsmanship with innovative winemaking techniques to craft the next generation of exceptional Barossa wines.
We source only the finest parcels of fruit from across the Barossa Valley, then combine tradition with modern winemaking techniques to create our B Series range of shiraz.
The B Series is a true testament to craftsmanship and patience, with each wine named after the number of weeks it has been carefully matured to achieve the ideal balance and complexity.
Our labels take you on a journey from vineyard to bottle, showcasing the meticulous process behind every wine, from grape selection and winemaking artistry to the maturation conditions that shape each unique expression.
What do you love about making wine in The Barossa?
What I love about making wine from the Barossa Valley is how the region's unique terroir and vine diversity shape every bottle – every expression. With its rich and diverse soils, varied elevations and microclimates, the Barossa Valley creates wines with exceptional depth and complexity. The combination of warm days and cool nights is perfect for the B-Series Shiraz, allowing us to craft wines that showcase both intensity and elegance.
The Barossa Valley's deep winemaking heritage and prestige inspire us to blend tradition with innovation, using select low-yielding vineyards and careful fruit selection to produce wines of outstanding concentration and character. It’s this balance between the land, the vine and our craftsmanship that makes Barossa Valley Wine Company’s wines so special.
How do you approach the winemaking process?
Great wine is the result of a collective effort beginning with the grower in the vineyard and ending with the winemaker in the winery – with many skilled hands along the way. Each of us brings expertise and passion to every stage, ensuring that what’s poured in the glass truly reflects the source vineyard, our dedication and our craft.
Our long-standing relationships with local growers in the Barossa Valley give us access to exceptional fruit, allowing us to handpick parcels that express the character of the region and its diverse sub-regions. In the winery, we focus on gentle techniques like open-top fermentation and daily hand-plunging to extract flavour and structure while preserving finesse.
Our goal is to craft wines with balance, elegance and the ability to age gracefully – wines that embody the best of the Barossa Valley. Each bottle is more than just wine – it’s a reflection of care, collaboration, and the pursuit of quality shared between our team and our growers.
What’s your favourite local spot?
One of my favourite spots in the Barossa is the Steingarten Lookout. While great for sunset lovers, it also provides panoramic views of the glorious Barossa Valley – including the B208 vineyard.
Wine to try: 2021 B208 Shiraz
Fruit sourced from a single vineyard near Rowland Flat, nestled in the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges. The wine is rich with blackcurrant and blueberry skin aromas, layered with hints of spice and purple floral notes. The palate oozes intensity, delivering firm yet balanced tannins, dark berry flavours, and juicy fruit sweetness up front. A savoury edge carries through to the finish, complemented by well-integrated oak. Its underlying finesse, balance, and elegance are further enhanced by the wine’s maturity at release.
How's it best enjoyed? The elegance and finesse of the B208 Shiraz will pair perfectly with the soft, marbled texture of Wagyu beef. While the wine’s flavour intensity is enhanced by the richness of truffle, the charcoal influence accentuates its underlying savoury edge and oak character.
To truly appreciate the depth and complexity of our B208 Shiraz, we recommend serving it at 16–18°C. This ideal temperature allows the wine to reveal its rich layers of flavour and evolve gracefully in the glass. Decant up to an hour before serving to unlock its nuances, and you'll be rewarded with a wine that unfolds beautifully, showcasing the craftsmanship and care behind every bottle.
RRP $300 | Drink to 2041
Chateau Tanunda
Senior Winemaker Jeremy Ottawa says: Château Tanunda, Icon of the Barossa, is one of Australia’s most historically significant wineries. Established in 1890, we’re proud to be celebrating our 135th anniversary this year.
The Geber family have put their heart, soul and passion into handcrafting some of the Barossa’s most collectable wines since taking custodianship in 1998.
A highlight is our Old Vine Expressions range, crafted from some of the oldest vines in the world – grown on original roots.
What do you love about making wine in The Barossa?
The Barossa is an incredible place to make wine. The Mediterranean climate and terroir are just ideal for producing wines of the highest quality.
The jewel in the crown, however, are the old vine vineyards. The Barossa is home to rare parcels of the oldest known continuously producing shiraz, cabernet, grenache, mataro and semillon vines in the world.
The sites these vines grow on are exceptional, equivalent to the Grand Crus of France, and you can taste the difference in our own Old Vine Expressions range when it comes to complexity, finesse and depth of flavour.
What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
We welcome guests to our Barossa cellar door nestled in the heart of our Château amongst hundreds of barrels of maturing wines.
We offer a range of bookable wine experiences and tours available to cater to a wide variety of wine lovers. Each experience has been tailored to highlight a different aspect of the Barossa wines and the remarkable Barossa region – whether that be the Old Vine Vineyards, the various sub-regional expressions, the styles of Shiraz, or the star grape varieties.
What’s your favourite local spot?
Aside from the Chateau, one of the best places to visit in the Barossa is the Barossa Farmer’s Market on a Saturday morning. Rub shoulders with the locals and you get a taste for the rich food and produce culture that is a strong part of the Barossa community – made famous by people like Maggie Beer.
Wine to try: 2021 100 Year Old Vines Shiraz
Packed with blackberry and blackcurrant reduction, spicy oak, tapenade, cocoa and potpourri aromas followed by an opulent palate displaying exceptional concentration and depth. Multi-layered and expansive with fruit richness as well as refined elegance that will reward several decades of cellaring.
How's it best enjoyed?
This wine pairs best with something like a dry-aged ribeye with black garlic butter and charred rosemary or slow-braised wagyu short ribs with star anise and dark cherry reduction. We also reccomend decanting the wine for 2-3 hours, serving it in a large red wine glass, ideally at a temperature of 16-18 degrees.
RRP $180 | Drink to 2040 | chateautanunda.com
Gibson Wines
Owner and Winemaker Rob Gibson says: Gibson Wines was founded in 1996 by myself and Anne Gibson, with my unique journey – from geologist to viticulturist to winemaker – shaping our ‘dirtborn’ philosophy: wines created from the earth and guided by our hands.
With over 50 vintages under my belt – including a few decades at Penfolds – I have spent a lifetime studying the relationship between soil, vine, and wine. Based in the north of the Barossa, we celebrate the region’s signature varieties, from bold shiraz and expressive grenache to crisp Eden Valley riesling, plus innovative blends like nero d’avola, montepulciano and graciano rosé.
Our wines reflect both the deep history and the ever-evolving future of Barossa winemaking, blending tradition with discovery.
What do you love about making wine in The Barossa?
The Barossa is a winemaker’s paradise – home to some of the world’s oldest vines and a diverse tapestry of soils and microclimates. This allows us to create wines that are rich, complex, and expressive of place.
We love the region’s deep heritage and collaborative spirit, but we also embrace innovation, seeking out unique parcels of fruit and experimenting with blends to keep our wines exciting and true to our ethos.
What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
A visit to Gibson’s cellar door is all about generous Barossa hospitality and a relaxed, down-to-earth experience. Guests can enjoy Classic or Premium tastings, where storytelling is just as important as the wine.
Set in Light Pass, at the northern end of The Barossa, our newly refurbished space includes a restored 170-year-old Settler’s Cottage, offering a charming backdrop to explore our range. Whether you're here to taste Barossa’s finest shiraz or discover something unexpected, we make sure every visit feels like a warm welcome.
What’s your favourite local spot?
One of my favourite spots in the region is the Eden Valley Lookout, where you can take in the breathtaking views over our Burkes Hill Vineyard. It’s a place of pure magic – rolling hills, ancient vines, and the ever-changing colours of the Eden Valley landscape.
Whether it’s a crisp morning with mist settling in the valleys or a golden sunset casting long shadows over the vineyards, it’s the perfect spot to pause, reflect, and appreciate the beauty that makes this region so special.
Wine to try: 2024 Burkes Hill Eden Valley Riesling
Single-site riesling sourced from the Burkes Hill vineyard just on the edge of the Eden Valley township. Classic Eden Valley aromas of freshly squeezed limes, Bickford's lime cordial, Christmas lily, crushed quartz and lemongrass. Limey, pure and mouth-filling on the palate, riding on rails of minerally acidity and slowly slipping away with flavours of fresh lime and green apple. – Dave Brookes
How's it best enjoyed? We suggest pairing our single-vineyard riesling with a crispy skin barramundi fillet or your favourite seafood – making sure you chill it to 6-8 degrees.
RRP $39 | Drink to 2034 | gibsonwines.com.au | Shop this wine
Kurtz Family Vineyards
Owner and Winemaker Steven Kurtz says: I am the first of my family's long grape-growing history to make wine. There’s also a story behind every label I release. I name my wines around Barossa traditions like The Boundary Row range – named after the Barossa tradition of using vine rows to distinguish between vineyards on adjoining properties. The fruit from the boundary row is shared between neighbours.
I am also very proud of my family’s past. I am a sixth generation Barossan, and the fourth generation to tend vines. My great, great grandfather Ben Kurtz planted the family’s original vineyard in the hamlet of Light Pass in the 1930s. Ben’s son Bernhard Otto Kurtz took the vines over in 1957 and John and Erril (my parents) moved to the existing vineyards in the early 1960s.
Mum and dad bought this vineyard in 1961 and I was born in 1963, so I was practically born in them. But I’ve chosen to walk my own winemaking path.
What do you love about making wine in The Barossa?
The consistency of the quality of fruit that is produced year in year out. I have been involved in the wine industry one way or another since the 1980s and I reckon I could count on one hand the number of poor vintages where fruit struggled to reach its full potential.
What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
Tastings are by appointment only, but you can expect to meet myself and try a number of wines in the Kurtz Family Vineyards barrel shed. You’ll hear stories of my experience in the wine industry, the family vineyards and how the lovely wines were produced.
What’s your favourite local spot?
The Barossa is full of numerous highlights from the beautiful scenery, to the fantastic restaurants and bars within the region. Two particular favourites are Vintners Bar and Grill in Angaston and Char Barossa in Tanunda – both are exceptional.
Wine to try: 2021 Lunar Block Shiraz
It is a full bodied and richly textured shiraz, with concentrated, spicy fruit. Plush, complex flavours of currant, black olive, blackberry, dark chocolate and mocha are balanced with fresh acidity and fine, gravelly tannins that provide a defined structural line, a lovely silky mouthfeel and great length of flavour. The tannins seem to lengthen the longer you leave the wine in your mouth.
How's it best enjoyed? We suggest pairing the Lunar Block Shiraz with your classic bold red-loving foods. It goes well with a big T-Bone Steak, potato chips, salad and mushrooms.
RRP $85 | Drink to 2040 | kurtzfamilyvineyards.com.au | Shop this wine
Peter Lehmann Wines
Chief Winemaker Nigel Westblade says: Founded in 1979, Peter Lehmann Wines is renowned for crafting premium wines that reflect the unique terroir of Australia’s Barossa Valley. With a commitment to quality and innovation, Peter Lehmann Wines continues to uphold a legacy of excellence in winemaking.
What do you love about making wine in The Barossa?
The Barossa has often been described as a winemaker’s dream. It offers a unique combination of old-vine heritage, diverse terroirs, and a strong sense of community among growers and producers.
The region’s warm days and cool nights create ideal conditions for producing wines with incredible depth, balance, and longevity. I particularly love being able to work with exceptional fruit from heritage vines that allow me to craft wines that not only respect the history and legacy of the Barossa but are malleable with modern techniques and styles.
What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
A visit to the Peter Lehmann Wines provides great insights into the heart of the Barossa. Nestled along the banks of the Para River, our cellar door is set within a picturesque landscape. Guests can enjoy a range of tailored tastings, from our everyday favourites to our ultra-premium and museum wines.
We offer visitors a fresh and locally produced selection of seasonal food offerings, coffees and our famous Weighbridge Platter to enjoy with a glass of Peter Lehmann wines.
Guests can choose to enjoy their experience in the historic stone building (our Hoffmann Cellar is one of the original Barossan wineries from the 1880s), its verandah or on the picnic tables scattered under the swaying red gum trees across our surrounding lawns.
What’s your favourite local spot?
One of the things I enjoy most about the Barossa is the beautiful walking and biking paths along the Para River. Strolling along them is the perfect way to unwind after a long day or give my dog a chance to burn off some energy.
The peaceful surroundings, fresh air and scenic views make it a great escape. Plus, if you venture far enough, you're likely to come across a cellar door, which is perfect for a well-earned refreshment or bite to eat!
Wine to try: 2018 Stonewell Shiraz
Deep purple with a black core, this rich and full-bodied wine offers aromas of chocolate-coated figs, intense boysenberry, and cedarwood. The palate is lush and bold, featuring ripe plums, an inky mouthfeel, and a long, fine chalky tannin structure.
How's it best enjoyed? This shiraz is best savoured with rich game or roast beef, or enjoyed with cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano, aged cheddar or Grana Padano. For the glassware, we recommend using a large-bowled glass, such as a Bordeaux-style glass, to allow the wine to breathe and enhance its complexity. We also recommend decanting for at least 30-60 minutes prior to drinking – serving it at a temperature of 16-18 degrees.
RRP $120 | peterlehmannwines.com | Shop this wine
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