Punk Rock, Surf & Wine
Taras Ochota was a bass player, punk rocker, surfer, and one of the most influential winemakers Australia has ever produced. The Ochota Barrels tale began on a surf trip in late 2000 along the Mexican west coast in a Volkswagen campervan — a final destination after travelling some of the world's best wine and surf regions. Taras and Amber conceived the idea to make beautiful holistic wines back home in South Australia. They settled on 9.6 steep gorgeous acres tucked away deep in the Basket Range of the Adelaide Hills. The wines — named after punk bands, songs, and surf culture — are low-alcohol, high-acid, minimal-intervention expressions of old vines and exceptional sites. Tragically, Taras passed away in October 2020 after a lengthy battle with an auto-immune disease. Amber continues the legacy with their father Yari and winemaker Lucas Armstrong, forging her own path while honouring the recipes Taras wrote for her just hours before his death. The wines sell out within days of release. The Rolling Stones bought out the entire inventory when they toured Australia in 2014. This is not just a winery — it is a movement.
From the Ukraine to the Stage
Taras Ochota's grandfather migrated to Australia from Ukraine just after WWII and planted a vineyard in the Clare Valley. When Taras was young, he'd help pick grapes and sometimes drive the tractor — "until I'd take a vine out and be back on the snips." His dad and uncles worked there all weekend, and there'd be long lunches where they'd drink wine out of recycled Vegemite glasses. They sold the property in the '80s when his grandfather passed, but that spark of interest never died. The Ukrainian family were making minimal-intervention wine long before it became the 'hot new thing' — everything grown without chemicals, wines made without sulfur additions. This lo-fi approach and lack of pretence shaped Taras's attitude to wine and life forever.
After school, Taras completed a degree in hospitality management while playing bass in the punk band Kranktus. They toured the country, played festivals like Big Day Out to crowds of 5,000, and were tipped as the next big thing from Adelaide. But it didn't last. His first jobs after uni were pruning vineyards in McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills. He loved it — up early, in nature, working with his hands. He became a vineyard manager, then studied oenology and viticulture at the University of Adelaide's Roseworthy campus. He worked vintages in California — surfing between harvests, playing in bands, living the dream. He settled at Two Hands in the Barossa Valley, then saw a job ad: "Requiring flying winemaker to work throughout Europe, based in Sweden." He fluffed up his resume, applied, and got it.
For three years, Taras and Amber made wine for Oenoforos in Sweden, crafting primarily Italian wines for the Scandinavian monopoly. His main job was making a million litres of Chardonnay each year in Puglia. But that bulk, factory-style wine didn't satisfy his creative instincts. He always dreamed of a small, artisanal label producing handmade wines from excellent organic vineyards. In 2000, in that VW campervan on the Mexican coast, the plan crystallised. By 2008, Ochota Barrels was born — 18 labels, some only 300 bottles, all named after the music that shaped him.
"To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It's freedom."
— Patti Smith (Taras's guiding philosophy)
Old Vines, Exceptional Sites & Organic Farming
The Ochota Barrels philosophy is simple: find exceptional old vineyard sites, farm them organically, and let the fruit speak. Taras sourced fruit from surrounding vineyards in the Adelaide Hills and special sites in McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley. All his growers are friends — "gentleman's handshake agreements," he called them. He paid them straight away, which is uncommon. He took from the same sections of the same vineyards every year. Most growers had been doing what they do their whole lives. Some vines are 70 years old. All are organic operations.
The concept was to concentrate on the zenith variety of McLaren Vale (Grenache) and the Barossa Valley (Shiraz), find exceptional old vineyard sites in each region, and create plush, small-batch, single-vineyard wines. Over the years the regions and vineyards shifted on a few wines, but the focus remained the same: showing precision and compression. Taras picked earlier than most winemakers, hunting for that perfect balance between fruit flavour and acidity. "My idea is to embrace that natural acidity, which is basically from picking early," he said. "With that you get lower alcohol than your typical Australian wines. Wines that have energy."
The home property sits on 9.6 steep gorgeous acres in Basket Range — a dirt road, a creek flowing through, fruit and nut trees, plenty of wildlife and some forest. In 20 minutes, Taras could be in Adelaide's Central Market eating pho. "It's the best of everything," he said. The winery itself is a dimly lit shed adjacent to the home, where vats of wine ferment under bedsheets while classical music is piped in loudly. Taras played different types of music during different phases of winemaking — a punk rocker conducting a symphony of fermentation.
Organically dry-farmed bush vines planted in 1947 on rocky ironstone infused with gravelly red clay in Blewitt Springs. Named after the post-hardcore punk band Fugazi that was playing on the car stereo as Taras and Amber arrived. The vineyard sits on a rise between the Onkaparinga River Gorge and Blewitt Springs. Tiny berries, low yields, profound concentration. The wine that changed Australian Grenache forever.
A certified organic vineyard planted in 1946 on red loamy clay over ironstone. Originally the source for Green Room Grenache Syrah, now a varietally labelled Grenache. Gnarly bush vines that "sing the most beautiful notes." Not a single spray was done to the 2022 vintage. Hand-harvested over two weeks, half whole-cluster, wild yeast fermentation, foot-stomped and hang-plunged.
The source for I Am The Owl Syrah — from "the gorgeous section" of 18-year-old vines. Cool climate, high altitude, precise acidity. The Syrah here is whole-bunch, without additions, rested ten months in French barrique. Light in hue, with perfumed pink florals, wild blackberry, and pink peppercorns. A pure and patient view of cooler-climate Australian Syrah.
Home to one of the oldest Pinot Meunier vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, planted in 1985. Dry-farmed, providing great intensity for delicate aromas. The source for The Mark of Cain — named after the punk band Taras once opened for. Also home to Gamay plantings that were grafted over to Chardonnay in the '90s, then chainsawed back to Gamay rootstock by Taras in 2013.
Less Is More, Music Is Everything
Taras Ochota's winemaking philosophy was shaped by his travels, his community, and his punk rock ethos. "I love wines that are clean, pure and delicious," he said. "Technically, they are 'natural' wines, but I'm not a big fan of that term; it bores and irritates me a bit, as there's a snobbery attached to it that's quite unattractive." He preferred to call it the "beautiful wine movement." The analogy he used was simple: "We have a veggie garden, and my son, Sage, can pick a cherry tomato and eat it without us worrying about washing it. It's the same principle with my wines."
The Ochotas took a less-is-more approach. Indigenous yeasts, whole-bunch pressing for whites, whole-bunch fermentation and longer maceration for reds. Texture was a key focus — mouthfeel created via time on skins and batonnage. Aging in old French oak. Just a touch of sulfur at bottling. The wines were mouthwatering, with compelling energy and nervous tension. "We just want to produce something delicious and gorgeous for all of us to enjoy with none of the nasties and more of the love," Taras said. He admired winemakers who could just let things go. Seth Kunin in Santa Barbara was a great mentor — "a chilled-out guy" who'd check the surf report and say, "We're going for a surf and then we'll go to work."
Music infused everything. "Music and wine are so connected in so many ways," Taras said. "I reckon you can often see the styles of music people like in the wines they make. I like edgy music, rawer, sharper, and my wines tend to be all elbows and knees sticking out. Someone else might like folk music, and they make rustic, countryesque wines. And then you get mainstream big production wines that taste like music that's been overdubbed and auto-tuned and had things taken out and put back in." The wines were named after bands and songs that meant something: Fugazi, Slint, I Am The Owl (Dead Kennedys), Texture Like Sun (The Stranglers), The Mark of Cain, A Forest (The Cure), Surfer Rosa (Pixies), Home (Depeche Mode), and more.
The Rolling Stones Bought the Lot
In 2014, when the Rolling Stones toured Australia, they stopped for lunch at Ochota Barrels. Before leaving, they bought out the entire inventory. Because of course they did. This is the kind of wine that rock stars recognise — raw, authentic, and made with zero pretence. Taras never set out to please the crowd, but through his elegant wines stripped of ego, that's exactly what he did. Selling out is something a punk should never do — except when you've done things in a way that is true to your roots and true to your heart.
Amber Continues the Vision
Taras Ochota passed away on October 12, 2020, following a long illness, just two months shy of his 50th birthday. The news devastated the wine world. But more importantly, a wife lost her husband, two children — Sage and his sister — lost their father. Amber made the incredibly difficult decision to continue Ochota Barrels without him. She had been beside Taras every step of the way — working vintages in Italy, coordinating production and wine analysis for Nordic Sea Winery in Sweden, managing the business. She knew the recipes. She knew the vineyards. She knew the vision.
The 2021 vintage was managed by Amber, with assistance from Taras's dad Yari and Louis Schofield of Hellbound Wine Bar in Adelaide, as well as long-time winemaking mentor Peter Leske. Louis had started assisting in the cellar in 2018. Yari brought decades of vineyard knowledge. Together, they kept the flame burning. In 2022, Amber took full control in the vineyards and cellar, cutting back on the number of varieties in blends and showcasing Gamay and Grenache primarily. Lucas Armstrong has recently taken over from Louis Schofield as Louis focuses on his Worlds Apart label. Amber is forging her own path while honouring the recipes Taras wrote for her just hours before his death.
The wines continue to sell out within days of release. The 2025 spring release — including Slint Chardonnay, A Forest Pinot Noir, and Fugazi Grenache — continues the tradition of precision, compression, and energy. Amber and the devoted team at Ochota Barrels continue to produce wines built around "texture, flavour and emotion" as focal points. The legacy lives on — not as a museum piece, but as a living, breathing, evolving expression of a family's love for wine, music, and each other.
"We want wines to stimulate saliva, to stimulate your appetite. I'd like to make wines that you could drink a bottle by accident and feel OK the next day."
— Taras Ochota
The Ochota Barrels Range
Ochota Barrels produces 18 labels, some as small as 300 bottles. The wines span Grenache, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay, Pinot Meunier, Gewürztraminer, and experimental blends. All are named after meaningful bands, songs, or surf culture references. The focus is on single-vineyard expressions from old, organically farmed sites. Alcohol levels typically hover between 11% and 13.8% — a percentage point or two lower than contemporaries. The wines are wild-fermented, mostly whole-bunch, aged in old French oak, bottled without fining or filtration, with minimal sulfur. They are wines of precision, compression, and undeniable energy.