The Adelaide Hills on a winter's day is the perfect experience for rugging up in your best puffer jacket and tromping around in your gum boots across misty slopes. We are instantly transported to days like this with the Dirt Boy Pinot Noir from Vella Wines and it is easy to picture the state of Mark Vella’s boots at the end of the season. The wine has plenty of forest floor aromas with a touch of bunchiness which is delightfully offset by creamy cherries and strawberries and a touch of red apple skin and baking spice.

Mark and Jen Vella are farmers first and foremost, churning out high end grapes for years on end as well as managing cattle on their property. For this duo, it was a case of supplying wineries with stunning Adelaide Hills fruit for years on end before finally biting the bullet and having a crack at turning grapes into wine. The great thing when vigneron becomes winemaker is that they know their produce better than anyone, and just like any Michelin star chef, they get to work with the best produce. Today Mark and Jen are producing a small range of wines from their own vineyards with a focus on two leading Adelaide Hills varieties, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as well as a couple of up and coming varieties, Pinot Blanc and Gamay. Gamay is the hottest property right now, with any millennial winemaker selling the vintage 1980s t-shirt off their back for a few buckets of the stuff. Luckily Mark gambled on Gamay becoming something one day and he now has enough vines to keep him happy as well as a growing collection of second hand t-shirts.