Collection: Tom Shobbrook

Flaxman Valley, Australia - Biodynamic viticulture - 40,000 bottles per year

A Barossa native, Tom studied agriculture before moving to Italy, where he spent six years working for Sean O’Callaghan at Tenuta di Carleone in Chianti Classico. In 2007 he returned to Australia and introduced the Barossa Valley to biodynamic, low-intervention, natural winemaking, something that was almost completely at odds with the prevailing approach at the time. The last two years have brought a lot of change in Tom’s life. He has moved from his native Seppeltsfield up to the Adelaide Hills, where he is now farming his own 4ha parcel, surrounded by cattle, geese and his ever-growing collection of vintage trucks. The vineyard is planted with a variety of grapes that he hopes will eventually make up his entire production, from Poulsard to Syrah. For now, he rents vineyards on the Barossa Valley floor in Vine Vale, next to Tanunda. Here, sand over yellow clay, shaped by generations of erosion, with the sand descending from the Adelaide Hills above. Vines range from 25 to 100 years old, making the parcel a living field blend of the Barossa’s history and the trends of the last century, from Riesling to Syrah, with Cabernet Franc and Cinsault among them.