About Us
We are totally unique. We have one of the largest collections of European varieties in Australia, with 49 currently planted for wine and a further 40 planted for future evaluation. And all, in fact, in just 50 acres.
After spending many years travelling the world, and trying wines in their native environments, Wayne and his family became committed to bringing these wine styles back to the Barossa.
With a diverse career spanning from horticulture to viticulture, Wayne was fascinated by the diversity on offer in vineyards and wine regions around the world. He has brought this back to the Barossa, and created his own range - Dell'uva Wines, where quality is excellence from the ground up.
Wayne spent a decade of his career visiting all of the top wine producing regions of the world in a quest to establish what it actually is that makes great wine. In the sun-drenched vineyards of Italy, amidst vines of intensely flavoured Italian varietal fruit, Wayne was inspired by growing methods vastly different to vineyard practices common in Australia.
Returning to his conventionally planted vineyard located on the Western Ridge of the Barossa, and armed with a chainsaw, Wayne performed "delicate" surgery on his vines. He then spent the next 5 years selecting and importing a handpicked range of rootstocks, emerging varieties and clones from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France to establish a new and exciting vineyard showcasing viticultural and wine-making practices not seen before in Australia.
Wayne has produced a select range of alternate wine styles and created a diverse offering of premium European varieties, distinctly showcasing their European heritage.
All our varieties are planted on quality wine rootstocks at a planting density averaging 6,500 vines per hectare with our Sangiovese leading the pack at 10,400 vines per hectare. At Dell’uva, our selection work with premium clones is never-ending: we have ongoing planted trials to continue our quality improvement.
Our growing practices are optimised to maximise fruit flavour development and our wine making practices ensure that the flavour is maintained to the end. Our red wines are aged in barrel for twenty-two months to warrant maximum development prior to bottling, and so ensuring that they just keep getting better with age.
We are rewriting the rules, and simply making the wines we enjoy ourselves, to share with our friends.