Established in 2004 by Ron Brown, Maverick is a relative new-comer to Australian wine, though the vineyards themselves are anything but young, with half the vines over a hundred years old. Brown's goal has been to position Maverick as one of the top premium boutique wineries in Australia. The wines are handcrafted from 100% biodynamically-farmed vineyards, with Maverick's Vine Vale winery certified biodynamic. These are exceptional offerings that may prompt you to review any preconceptions you might be harbouring about the nature of Australian wine. Elegant and restrained, beautifully executed, as they break the mould, they won't disappoint.

Maverick fruit comes from 3 vineyards, each in a very diffeernt area of the Barossa and Eden Valleys, giving us the ability to create unique vineyard specific wines expressing our fabulous, diverse and complex terroirs.

Trial Hill Vineyard, Pewsey Vale, Eden Valley

Our flagship Trial Hill Vineyard was part (Block 1968) of the original Pewsey Vale Station, the oldest cool climate vineyard of Australia, first planted in 1847 at the instigation of Joseph Gilbert. The actual planting was undertaken by Peter Wilson, the blacksmith and rouseabout of Pewsey Vale Station, who is thought to have lived where the Trial Hill residence currently stands - his diary on Guy Fawkes' Day (5th November) 1865 details his problems with the Breechens mechanism of his horse-drawn cart which resulted in their crashing into the creek - we use this diary entry on our Breechens label as a tribute to the pioneering spirit of Barossa's first settlers and the perils they overcame.

Barossa Ridge Vineyard, Vine Vale, Barossa Valley

Situated against the eastern foothills in the central Barossa Valley this vineyard is regarded to be in the Vine Vale sub region - this is the smallest of the Barossa Valley's 15 sub-regions, and is according to the late Peter Lehman (who was born in the 1860's ironstone across the road from the winery) its best!

Ahrens' Creek Vineyard, Vine Vale, Barossa Valley

The Vine Vale vineyard comprises 45 acres in Vine Vale, the smallest of the sub-regions of the Barossa Valley, considered by many to be the very best of them all!

The sandy, wind-blown soils on top of clay are perfect for Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon. The old vines were planted by Heinrich Gerhard Ahrens and his family who immigrated to the Barossa in 1837, who first planted the vineyard in the 1840s. This included the current 6 acres of 1840s Grenache which are among the oldest producing vines in the world. The vineyard was inherited by his daughter Amine Berthe in the 1860s, who married C.F.W. Lehmann, the founder of the current Lehmann family. The Ahrens/Lehmann family planted the Shiraz – a staggering 10 acre block remains from the early 1870's. In 2013 we spent 6 months taking out the trellissing and wires, removing everything affected over the yars by dead arm or eutypa, then re-trellissiing and rewiring and retraining these ancient vines on to new infrastructre - it took a huge investment of craftmanship and time but has effectively brought these wonderful old wines back to a vigorous and healthy life! Other varieties include a 10 acre Semillon block from the 1840's, as well as the other classic varieties of the Barossa – Mataro, Riesling, Chardonnay. Vine Vale has always produced the finest Barossa Cabernets, and our large Cabernet vineyard fruit is second to none.

The focus is on traditional, hand-made artisanal boutique wine production - from the reception of the hand-picked grapes in whole bunches in small bins, through the process (as regards red wine) of frequent pigeage and pump-overs in small fermentation vats by terroir lot, to basket-pressing and maturation in 100% French oak barrels each selected for the individual wine/terroir. This is made possible by our commitment to producing simply the best possible premium boutique wines, regardless of commercial considerations. The best evidence is of course a first-hand visit to our winery during harvest!

The Barossa is the foremost premium wine district of Australia and one of the top 10 wine growing regions of the world. It boasts a 175 year old European wine culture and tradition. The unique juxtaposition of the cool climate, rolling hillside higher altitude, wetter Eden Valley with its undulating slopes of skeletal soils (micas, quartzes and schists) and the warm climate, low rainfall, lower-lying, flatter Barossa Valley with its famous terra rosa creates one of the world's truly unique and precious viticultural gems! This in turn allows a huge diversity of terroir and fruit expression, notably of the region's Shiraz, Grenache and Riesling which are the oldest and amongst the finest in the world.

The Barossa Wine Region is broadly divided into 2 regions; Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. Within these regions are unique sites that sharply focus general regional wine styles into vineyard and even block specific wines that are a true reflection of that site’s terroir.

One of the great aspects of the Barossa as a wine region is its unparalleled vine clonal diversity. As one of the first wine regions established in Australia it has many vineyards of significant age, many of which were established using vine planting material taken from the famous European wine regions before they were ravaged with phylloxera. This clonal material had been selected over generations and is now preserved in some of the oldest "own rooted" vineyards in the world in the Barossa. The absence of phylloxera, which is regarded as the world's worst grape pest and has been responsible for the transition of own rooted vines to the use of rootstocks in most grape growing areas of the world, has meant Barossa vineyards have survived the test of time.