A selection of six natural Smallfry Wines, intended as a journey on the palate. if they were a wine flight, you would drink them in this order:

Gewurzbomb 2024 (far left of picture; orange / skin contact white; 11.5%; £28) notes of lychee, passionfruit, orange zest and rose petals in this blend of Gewürztraminer and Semillon

Pond Rosé 2024 (second from left; 12.5%; £28) Dry and fruity blend of Mataro and Cinsault. Soft and creamy texture, with notes of rosehips, strawberry & cream.

Quixote Pedro Ximénez 2023 (foremost; orange / skin contact white; 12%; £28 ) Why the name, Wayne? ‘ Oxford Dictionary definition of Quixotic is “highly idealistic, unrealistic and impractical “ which is as good a description of this wine as I can come up with. Very much an experiment and an exploration of the unknown.’

Pimpernel Trousseau 2023 (red; 11.8% £28) Medium bodied red, with bright acidity and impressive persistence. Tangy red fruit, underpinned by a mushroom-y earthiness and a soft, herbal quality. Serve lightly chilled if desired.

Schliebs’ Garden 2017 (second from right; 15%; £29) A blend of ungrafted, centenarian Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro. Full-bodied, but soft and supple, with notes of plum, cherry and cinnamon.

Sweet Venus Late Harvest Riesling 2022 (far right; 12.8%; £28 – 50cl btl) Opulently aromatic. Notes of ripe peach and apricot. High acidity makes for a refreshing dessert wine.

Wayne Ahrens and Suzi Hilder wanted to make small batch, low intervention wine, without using systemic chemicals. So they quit their secure jobs with large wine companies and founded Smallfry Wines, initially planting a site from local seedlings in Eden Valley between 1994 and 1998.

In 2007 they bought an 18 hectare estate with old, ungrafted, biodynamic vines in Vine Vale, Barossa, which had been tended for the previous 52 harvests by Ken Schliebs, and been in Ken’s family since the 1850s.