Smallfry wines is a partnership in business and life between Suzi Hilder and Wayne Ahrens. Both were born into the industry and have various trade and technical qualifications as well as having worked in most aspects of wine production in enterprises big and small.
The biggest point of difference between Smallfry and the majority of the Barossa winemaking community is reliance on wild yeast to conduct the primary alcoholic ferment. The different flavour profile obtained using wild yeast ferments is primarily due to population dynamics. The ferments can take a day or so to get going, during this time pre-ferment maceration of skins occurs extracting a more fruity flavour profile. The adherents of wild yeast believe that when James Busby imported grape varieties from the old world to begin our industry, concealed in the buds and bark were the old world yeasts that fermented their wines. These same old world yeasts were later isolated and cultivated to provide the inoculations the modern industry relies on.