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James Halliday's Best New Winery in his 2017 Australian Wine Companion
Best Value Winery - Halliday Wine Awards 2026
Started in 2012, Bondar is the vision of husband and wife team Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly. Andre, with a history as a winemaker in the Adelaide Hills and Selina with a background in marketing and law, have planted roots (literally) in the north of McLaren Vale, on the border of Blewitt Springs and the Beautiful View (Seaview) subregions. Plantings of bush vine Grenache are up to 50 years old and Shiraz up to 65 years are already in play, while newer, more close planted Counoise (one of the 13 Ch?teauneuf varieties) has been recently planted, and Mataro, Carignan and Cinsault are on the horizon.
This wine is a blend of 95% Grenache and 5% Cinsault, sourced from four sites with a range of soil types--from the white sands of Blewitt Springs to the cracking, black clays of Whites Valley. Fruit from all four blocks was hand-picked, then crushed & left to sit on skins for varying amounts of time (three, six and twelve hours). Perfect balance and some lovely complexity make this an exceptional buy.
"Now all home Rayner vineyard fruit, with grenache (90%) off vines planted in 1970, with some from ’19 and ’17. The other 10% is an even split of cinsault and mataro, with the latter seeing older oak. This is as good as any rosé from this address, and that’s saying a lot, with the bar set so high. Rose gold leaning into onion skin in appearance, with notes of redcurrant, wild cherry, orange peel, pink grapefruit, watermelon and musk. No confection here. No estery blur – just exceptional fruit and a masterfully refined blend. It’s properly dry, expansive though supremely elegant, long through the palate, slightly chalky, pithy, vibrant. Once again, stunning." 96pts | Marcus Ellis | Halliday Wine Companion
Organic Principles | Sustainable Winegrowing Australia
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