Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale wines from Amber Ochota in Basket Range, picked by taste and acidity
Ochota Barrels sits on 9.6 steep acres deep in Basket Range, in the Adelaide Hills. Fruit comes from Hills vineyards and old McLaren Vale vines, including the Grancari vineyard in the Onkaparinga Hills, where red clay and ironstone sit over limestone and schist.
Picking is decided by taste and acidity on sunrise vineyard walks, and whole bunches go into half-tonne ferments when the stalks taste piquant. Ferments are wild, with gentle plunging and hand cap submersion, and time on skins is used to shape texture.
Taras and Amber Ochota conceived the label on a surf trip along Mexico's west coast in late 2000. Taras, an Adelaide University oenology graduate, had worked as a flying winemaker in southern Italy and made vintages in California. Amber's experience runs from Italian vintages to cellar door in the Hills and wine analysis in Sweden.
Amber now runs the winery in Taras's memory. Taras played bass in punk bands before wine, and many of the labels carry band and song names, among them Fugazi, Slint and Surfer Rosa.