The Colonial Estate

The Colonial Estate is owned and managed by 'cult' winemaker Jonathan Maltus who made his name with St Emilion's Château Teyssier and its cult sister wines Le Dôme and Château Laforge.

Maltus uses a number of methods unheard of in Barossa, home to some of Australia's most celebrated small producers. He imported all his winemaking equipment from St Emilion: wooden vats, barrels, triage tables and makes sure the wine is genuinely 'handmade' to the point of sorting the grapes both before and after destemming, ensuring nothing other than pristine grapes are placed into the vat.

The Colonial Estate produce a range of limited-production Australian wines with an old world approach. The fruit is hand picked and carefully selected; the reds receive cold pre-maceration, fermentation, pressing and maceration on skins prior to ageing in French oak; whilst the whites get whole-bunch pressing, lees stirring and are fermented with naturally occurring yeasts.