Based in Australia’s iconic Barossa Valley, the winery was built in an 1850s stone cottage style. Rockford Wines feature high quality traditional wines made from some of the best old Barossa vineyards.
The winery and cellar door sales are part of a paved courtyard surrounded by stone buildings dating back to the early settlement of Krondorf. They are committed to keeping the best of traditional winemaking alive and sharing that joy with customers.
In addition to the small home vineyard, Rockford works in partnership with several independent wine growers around the Barossa, with vineyards in Kalimna, Ebenezer, Moppa Springs, the Eden Valley and central Barossa. This gives Rockford a wide variety of soil types, mesoclimates and altitudes for its grapes. Many of the vines are planted on their own rootstocks and range between 60–100 years old, giving intense, concentrated grapes that translate into the wines. Winemaking is largely done using traditional methods such as basket presses, open-topped concrete fermenters and a 1880s Bagshaw (grape) crusher that was found on site when O'Callaghan purchased the property in the 1970s.
Rockford's flagship wine is its Basket Press Shiraz, which is aged in French and American oak hogshead barrels for 2 years prior to release. It is one of Australia's more sought-after wines and has regularly achieved high scores from critics. There are several other top wines in the portfolio, including the Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon, the Sparkling Black Shiraz and the Rod and Spur Cabernet-Shiraz blend.