Our growers are the backbone of our business and their hard work and dedication to their craft enable us to purchase luscious fruit year after year. Jason has forged long-standing relationships with over 13 local growers who we proudly purchase from Vintage after Vintage.
Brothers Mark and Jason Schwarz are building on a family tradition in grapes and wine, a tradition pioneered by the hard work and intuition of their parents.While the two brothers have deviated down slightly different paths – Mark taking over the family vineyards his parents established and Jason founding the wine label, Schwarz Wine Co. The work they do is deeply intertwined and the result is some of the best wine in the Barossa.The Schwarz wine legacy began when their father Ian bought some of his uncle’s farm he’d been working on at Bethany, along the picturesque Barossa foothills, continuing to buy blocks from him as they became available.
As Ian’s family grew, Mark, Jason and their two brothers would help out in the vineyards, as well as in the family’s orchards. Over the years more and more vines were planted, but about 40 peach trees still remain.
"I always enjoyed being involved in the vineyards growing up and dad was a strong competitor in the pruning competitions. They had junior sections so we would compete as well, it was a family outing for us,” Mark said. “After I finished high school, my parents encouraged me to get a trade and gain experience working for someone else, so I did a carpentry and joinery apprenticeship."
"But then dad had a knee operation and needed someone to come back and help, so I did and never left." Mark worked alongside his dad in the vineyards until he was diagnosed with brain cancer and sadly passed away in 2014.
"Dad laid a really good foundation in the vineyards, and while I gained formal training in viticulture, I learnt a lot from him and certainly miss our joking around – he was known in our family for his ‘steel cap’ slippers in the tractor."
When Jason founded Schwarz Wine Co. in 2001, he did it buying grapes from his family’s vineyard, allowing the family to be involved in the wine process from grape to glass.
“The Thiele Road Grenache and Nitschke Block Shiraz Jason produces are single vineyard wines, using only the grapes he buys from our family’s vineyards. It’s very satisfying to see what you grow in a bottle and to have that family link,” Mark said.
"I grow mainly shiraz, cabernet and grenache. Some of the grenache is 80-years-old and with these old vines you have to be very hands on and it must be hand-picked with no machinery involved."
Mark’s dad was one of few growers to keep these grenache vines in the 1980s vine pull scheme and Jason pays homage to both his father and these vines through the Thiele Road Grenache, which was the second wine Jason made when the winery began. It is a sophisticated yet mature grenache with a savoury palate, floral aromas and is known for its ageing potential.
The Nitschke Block Shiraz also has special meaning for the family, being vines planted in 1968, the year Mark and Jason’s parents married. It’s a rich and well-structured shiraz holding a subtle elegance and elements of old and new oak.
"While we have these old vines the remaining vineyards are on a program to target certain blocks with replanting so we can keep growing the best grapes" Mark added.
With a mix of Biscay and loamy soils in the Schwarz Vineyards providing the fertile soils for distinctive and delicious wines, there’s no doubt the legacy Ian started will continue to make its way into wine glasses for generations to come.
What Mark is drinking: In the summertime it’s a white, usually a riesling, but when the weather cools, it’s shiraz, cabernet or whatever red is going.
With the Schiller name already taken for a vineyard business, they turned to the family history books and found their land was first settled in 1870 by Johann Schiller and Johann Grocke, with Schiller later buying Grocke out. This connection provided meaningful significance for the name they chose, “Johann’s Find” with the first-generation Schiller planting his first vineyard in 1881, a shiraz the sixth-generation Schiller is now custodian of and is used in Schwarz Wine Co.’s range, “The Schiller Shiraz”.
For Tom Schiller, viticulture in the Barossa runs deep – six generations deep and he is taking steps to make sure this tradition of grape growing can continue for many generations come.
After completing university, it was only right he returned home to the Barossa Valley to take on the family vineyard in Hallett’s Valley with his dad Robert, later joined by his brother Ben.
While the vineyard’s historical connection runs deep, Tom has implemented modern vineyard practices to ensure the vineyards will still be thriving for generations to come. Influenced by a love of native Australian wildlife and landscapes, Tom has introduced sustainable practices that are improving the soils and landscape around him.
Like his family, Tom enjoys trying different wine varieties but does
appreciate being able to drink what he’s producing, with Johann’s Find growing
grapes across three soil types – loamy, vigorous soils on the river flats, some red clay limestone and black Biscay soils on the
hillsides.
Finding inspiration and influence from across the world, Karl Schiller returned home two decades ago, bringing with him a global insight into how he’d manage his Barossa vines. Karl and his two sisters grew up helping their parents work the vineyards at Mengler Hill and Eden Valley.“I remember doing jobs in the vineyard when I was a little kid, knocking off water shoots for a couple cents a vine, it was a good way to earn pocket money.”
Karl is also integrating a regenerative style of farming into his blocks to decrease the impact on the environment and landscape. “I’m doing this by planting beneficial mid-row grasses that put back into the soil and attract the right sort of insects. “It would be a lot easier, but I don’t do the same thing every year, as we try to adjust to the year and use techniques that work with nature and the environment rather than against it.”
Karl grows Shiraz, Cabernet and planted Grenache for the first time in 2021.
"I enjoy watching the vines grow, you plant a vineyard and watch it develop into an established block and it’s always great to see what varietal expression you get from each particular site."
The Lienert family landed on the Barossa's western edge in the 1850's adopting the lion head as their family crest - a nod to their Prussian heritage, and pioneering spirit.
Over the last 20 years, fifth generation Barossan brothers John and James Lienert have transformed the family farm on the Barossa's western ridge from cropping to vineyards, planting the first vines in the distinctive rich red loam over limestone soils in 2001.
What was once the family farm has now become a source of outstanding quality fruit. Broad blue skies, long sunny days and famed 'terra rossa' soils allow generous flavour and solid structure to develop naturally in these vineyards.
"Quality begins from the ground up, beginning with soil health and we believe that the importance that we place on all our vineyard soils helps us to produce some of the best quality grapes possible."
