Hayes Family Wines is a small independent producer in Barossa Valley, Australia. Owned and operated by Brett and Kylie Hayes, who work alongside Andrew Seppelt, who has been making globally-recognised wines in the region since 1995.
We fell in love with the Barossa when travelling there in 2018, where we had to re-think Australia as a ‘New World’ wine producer – the Barossa is home to some of the oldest vitis vinifera vines in the world, many of which, like Brett’s, are planted on their own rootstocks. This is something rarely seen in the ‘old word’ of Europe, where vitis vinifera vines have to be grafted onto American rootstocks, after they were devastated by the Phylloxera louse, unwittingly imported from North America in the late 1800s, but so far yet to reach the sandy soils of South Australia.
Hayes Family Wines first vintage was 2014, and their wines have been given five stars by influential antipodean critic James Halliday ever since. Their vines are considerably older, as most of their Stone Well estate base was planted in 1948.
Hayes’ estate is one of only five to be certified organic in the region. As Stonewell has a mere 6 hectares of vines, Brett also sources grapes from other exceptional single vineyards dotted around Barossa and Eden Valleys for his regional wine range. He works primarily with the regions’ best ‘hero’ grape varieties – Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro.
Many of the estate wines are made in tiny numbered batches. They are released ready to drink, and also have impressive cellaring potential.