Vinya Vella
Vinya Vella is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery — Campbell Mattinson's highest honour.
Barossa Valley.
Dr Dylan Grigg is one of the most highly-credentialed, and in-demand, viticulturists in Australia. His speciality is old vines. He has his own old vine vineyard, in the Barossa Valley.
The case.
Vinya Vella doesn’t make many wines and hasn't been around for very long. It farms a vineyard though that has been growing in the Vine Vale sub-region of the Barossa Valley for over 120 years. It’s the label of Dylan Grigg, who was a finalist in the Halliday Wine Companion’s Viticulturist of the Year category in 2023, and who also made the same publication’s Best New Producer list in 2024. Grigg has a PhD in viticulture and more specifically, in old vines. The old vines that he farms are grown as goblets, or bush vines, and are grenache. Occasionally in Australian wine we see the right person walk onto the right land at the right time. Dylan Grigg and this old bush vine Grenache vineyard are one such occasion. The 2023 Vinya Vella Old Vine Grenache is a wonderful wine. On The Winefront site I scored it at 95/100, calling it “light, bright and impressive”. The 2024 Vinya Vella Old Vine Grenache is as good or better. I wrote of it: “The Barossa is alive in this wine. This is a grenache that feels spring-heeled. It’s a pearl.” This vineyard, once dilapidated, is now prized.
The wines that make the case.
Vinya Vella Old Vine Grenache 2023 (Barossa Valley): Winefront.
Vinya Vella Old Vine Grenache 2024 (Barossa Valley): Winefront.
Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2025 (Barossa Valley): Winefront.
Vinya Vella is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery – the highest honour awarded by Australian wine critic Campbell Mattinson. 10-Star status recognises one thing: the quality of the wine in the glass, every glass, across the range. The full list of 10-Star Wineries constitutes Australia's Best Wineries.
