About
Wines that reflect location, accent and the seasons of each vintage, Koomilya is a faithful record of what has passed and still endures.
Producing single site wines, the established vineyard was named after a mid-19th century lugger that traversed between South Australia and the then emerging state of Western Australia – a symbolic reflection of winemaker Stephen Pannell’s connection to the two states; one of his youth and one now being the place he calls home.
As Stephen and Fiona Pannell’s first vineyard, Koomilya has been the realisation of a long-held vision to create modern Shiraz which harks back to a tradition of what McLaren Vale Shiraz looked like in the 1960s.
Wedged between the original Upper Tintara vineyard – planted by the famous Doctor Kelly in 1862, and the Hope Farm or Seaview vineyard established in the early 1850s by George Manning, Koomilya’s landscape and microclimate first captured the winemaker’s heart in December 1994 while Stephen was working with BRL Hardy.
Despite visiting hundreds of vineyards across the globe, it was Koomilya that continued to call. Having expressed his wishes to one day own the vineyard should the then owner Don Cant ever look to sell, it was in late 2012 that the opportunity arose for Stephen and Fiona to become the new custodians of the 35 hectare property and so to the chance to regenerate an old Shiraz vineyard amongst an ancient landscape.
Staying true to their belief that wine should reflect place, the vineyard has been farmed organically since its purchase, with weeds and feral olives removed by hand to allow native flora such as rare orchids and majestic old gum trees to reclaim the space.
Conserving the landscape is a priority for the Pannell family as they focus on regenerative measures and Biochar – taking the waste from the olive trees, and returning it to the soil as charcoal to improve soil structure, water-holding capacity and increase mycorrhizal fungi, assisting nutrient uptake of the vines. Cultivation is kept to the bare minimum allowing the build up of humus and micro flora, and only recycled water is used for irrigation.
And while these methods take time, the wines produced from this landscape have strength, intensity and glorious grape tannins which wind the palate together, taking you to the heart of the vineyard and its history, which dates back to the late 1850s.
“The vine is a magnifying glass for the landscape and to produce wine that tastes like the place, we must preserve the landscape and touch it lightly.”
“The protection of regional, vineyard and even single block characteristics becomes the most important factor in your winemaking decisions”
“I think all great wines obey a set of rules, and the most important of these is that wine should have a sense of place.”
2022 Koomilya Single Vineyard Release
2022 DC Block
“These wines have strength, intensity, and glorious grape tannins, which wind the palate together, almost like a double helix. The complex structure pulls you straight through. They illustrate what I’m hoping modern McLaren Vale wine will be, which harks back to a tradition of what it looked like in the 1960s, without all the artifice of winemaking. Above all, these wines look and taste, Koomilya”. - Stephen Pannell
Vintage
The second year of the current La Nina cycle saw a wet winter and spring followed by a mild summer and a dry autumn. Veraison was two weeks behind normal. Poor flowering due to wild spring weather including high winds, frost and hail led to lower than desired yields. Quality was good due to the long, slow ripening period. A vintage to watch!
Viticulture and Winemaking
A single block Shiraz from 50 year old vines grown on ancient, dark grey slaty siltstone soils flecked with ironstone facing south-east at an altitude of 108m. The DC Block is named for Don Cant, the previous custodian, and was the first single block wine released from the vineyard.
Hand harvested on the 14th of March. Whole berries were gently seperated from the rachis and pumped to one of two large old oak fermenters acquired from a dear friend. Gently pressed after spontaneous fermentation and 11 days on skins. Settled in tank for 23 days before transfer to a 10 year old 2300L French oak vat and a single use French oak puncheon for malolactic fermentation and 6 months maturation. Racked once and sent back to vat. Bottled, unfined, on the 27th of September 2023.
Flavour Profile
The worker of the three, dressed in dungarees and work boots and ready for a day in the vineyard, likes strong tea and a rolly at smoko. Black bean, five spice, hoisin and oyster sauce followed by dark ripe plums, raspberry and liquered dark cherries. The flavours remind us of chocolate crackles, Genepi, Amaro and builders tea left in the pot. A hint of sage and wormwood brings a savoury note to the finish.
Structure and Texture
A deep baritone, rumbling and guteral like the back row of a Welsh choir. The fruit sits back and lets the texture take control. The tannins are papery, long and layered sitting deep on the palate. Buzzing with energy and complexity.
Cellaring
As long as you can resist; try for more than fifteen. Best decanted an hour before drinking.
Alcohol 14% | pH 3.58 | Total acidity 5.9 | Total Sulphur 45ppm
The Wine Front review by Gary Walsh
Posted on 5 September 2025
'More time on skins than the JC block, 23 days and 15 days respectively. Also aged in ten year old oak vat, as opposed to four year old for the JC. The 2022 vintage is a little more frisky and edgy than 2021.
This has a mahogany and walnut richness, black fruit, mint and liquorice, a gum leaf and dried herb perfume. It’s an inky wine, rich in silty tannin with some orange tang to acidity, quite some exotic spice and floral mouth-perfume, walnut and dried herb, with a bold finish of excellent length. Roast chestnut and bitter dark chocolate orange finishes it off. Specific. Good.'
94+ Points
Halliday Wine Companion review by Marcus Ellis
Published on 20 August 2025
'It’s so nice to see these Block wines consistently show true to site, while also naturally fluctuating with the vintage. The DC is always the most traditional of feel – of intensity and fruit flavour – of the triad of wines, but it’s as effortless, as delightfully free of artefact as the other wines. Deep of fruit, brooding, but never sweet or rich with it. Just a wine of thrumming presence with a bloody ferrousness, feeling of those ironstone-laced soils, old vines and that distinctive Upper Tintara bush block. There’s a character in all the wines that feels of that place, of the earth and the bush in the warmth of summer, but not of eucalypt, of mintiness, just of the scent of that serene place. An excellent wine.'
96 Points
2022 JC Block
Halliday Shiraz of the Year 2026
“These wines have strength, intensity, and glorious grape tannins, which wind the palate together, almost like a double helix. The complex structure pulls you straight through. They illustrate what I’m hoping modern McLaren Vale wine will be, which harks back to a tradition of what it looked like in the 1960s, without all the artifice of winemaking. Above all, these wines look and taste, Koomilya”. - Stephen Pannell
Vintage
The second year of the current La Nina cycle saw a wet winter and spring followed by a mild summer and a dry autumn. Veraison was two weeks behind normal. Poor flowering due to wild spring weather including high winds, frost and hail led to lower than desired yields. Quality was good due to the long, slow ripening period. A vintage to watch!
Viticulture and Winemaking
A single block Shiraz from 50 year old vines grown on ancient, dark-grey slaty siltstone rich in ironstone rubble, facing southwest at an altitude of 120m. The JC Block is named for Jill Cant, the previous custodian, and was the first block Stephen worked during his tenure as Hardy’s chief red winemaker.
Hand harvested on the 16th of March. Whole berries were gently separated from the rachis and pumped to a small stainless steel fermenter. Gently pressed after spontaneous fermentation and 15 days on skins. Settled in tank for 36 days before transfer to a 4 year old 1000L French oak vat and two French oak puncheons for malolactic fermentation and 6 months maturation. Racked once and sent back to vat and puncheon for the balance of maturation. Bottled, unfined, on the 27th of September 2023.
Flavour Profile
The most fruit driven of the trio, does not inhale. Quince paste, vanilla bean, a whole heap of black fruits, chorizo, paprika, red currant jelly and hickory. In all the blackness there is suddenly a red light from within and exotic Vietnamese flavours emerge. The finish reveals yet more fruit and it’s difficult to pick just one: black currant, quince, rhubarb and blackberry.
Structure and Texture
Initially delicate and pretty but then the tannins expand and blossom slowly opening and shaped like a camelia with mant petals. Intense but svelte, pure and poised. A complete wine.
Cellaring
Set up for a long life in a cool cellar try 15 plus years. Best decanted an hour before drinking.
The Wine Front review by Gary Walsh
Posted on 1 September 2025
'The 2021 was a superb wine, this is not quite at that level, though it’s very good.
There’s black fruit, liquorice and mint, cocoa, brazil nut and hazelnut, dried roses, a gum leaf perfume. It’s fleshy and nutty, a cocoa and aniseed fragrance, lots of ironstone, a richness that goes into praline and walnut, raspberry, has some blood orange tang, though acidity stays cool, lavish silty tannin, with a slightly warming finish of excellent length.. It’s a more rugged and tannic expression of this vineyard, but very good all the same.'
95+ Points
Halliday Wine Companion by Marcus Ellis
Published on 20 August 2025
'2026 Shiraz of the Year. Score awarded by the Halliday tasting panel at the annual Awards judging. ME writes: There are three single-block iterations of Koomilya shiraz: GT, DC and JC. All are superb, but it is the JC that is cementing its reputation as one of Australia’s greatest wines. The survey may be relatively short, but I’m convinced. The '21 was breathtaking and this its equal, or thereabouts. The JC has a distinct shape, a harmony, an engulfing perfume, a blend of flavour depth with spice and dusky florals, and an effortlessness. Then the fragrance in the mouth billows up, envelops, stops you in your tracks. It’s suffused with place, the bush-fringed site, with a sense of fallen gums subsumed into the soil, intertwining with the ripe but not juicy deep red fruits, along with a rusty iron note, salumi and panforte. As said, one of Australia’s great wines.'
99 Points
2022 GT Block
“These wines have strength, intensity, and glorious grape tannins, which wind the palate together, almost like a double helix. The complex structure pulls you straight through. They illustrate what I’m hoping modern McLaren Vale wine will be, which harks back to a tradition of what it looked like in the 1960s, without all the artifice of winemaking. Above all, these wines look and taste, Koomilya”. - Stephen Pannell
Vintage
The second year of the current La Nina cycle saw a wet winter and spring followed by a mild summer and a dry autumn. Veraison was two weeks behind normal. Poor flowering due to wild spring weather including high winds, frost and hail led to lower than desired yields. Quality was good due to the long, slow ripening period. A vintage to watch!
Viticulture and Winemaking
A single block Shiraz from 33-year-old vines grafted on Gewurztraminer planted in 1974 by Jill and Don Cant, the previous custodians. Grown on ancient, dark grey slaty siltstone laminated with ironstone facing South at an altitude of 116m. The last block to be restored to health, GT stands for grafted or Gewurztraminer, take your pick.
Hand harvested on the 16th of March. Whole berries were gently seperated from the rachis and pumped to one of two large old oak fermenters acquired from a dear friend. Gently pressed after spontaneous fermentation and 14 days on skins. Settled in tank for 11 days before transfer to an 11 year old 2300L French oak vat for malolactic fermentation and 6 months maturation. Racked once and sent back to vat. Bottled, unfined, on the 27th of September 2023.
Flavour Profile
The most Europeanr of the three, prefers Gauloises over Dr Pat. Freshly tanned leather, vanilla, blueberry, pink pepercorns, black olive and cassia bark aromas. There is fresh fennel on the front palate followed by milk chocolate, blackberry compote, violets and cherry cola.
Structure and Texture
The fruit flys solo and then the texture is revealed in a slow dance across the back palate. Plush and velvety tanins are latent and flavourful with a white tea like prettiness and remarkable length. Not as deeply set as it’s siblings: flighty, pretty and magical.
Cellaring
Set up for a long life in a cool cellar try 15 plus years. Best decanted an hour before drinking.
Alcohol 14% | pH 3.55 | Total acidity 5.9 | Total Sulphur 54ppm
(Image: DC, GT, JC, CP... Our Shiraz and Cabernet blocks from a birdseye view / @koomilya)