Jarvis Estate — Attraction in Bramley

Hands down the best winery we visited while travelling Australia and so far we have visited The Hunter valley, Swan Valley, Margeret River and currently in The Barossa Valley. All the wines here literally sh1t all over the wines in The Barossa and are FAR better value! We became members straight away & loved our experience for the tasting with both Ulf and Donna. If you are undecided about visiting The Barossa or Margeret River = Marg River 100 times over, unfortunately the Barossa is overrated and far too expensive, its had its day. & if in Margaret River, Jarvis Estate is its hidden gem. We only came here as it offered a Hip camp camping for our caravan, so glad we did. It was the best winery we visited. I asked a former local, born and bred M.River, which wineries to visit before coming here. He did not mention Jarvis Estate, and while there were some great wineries (better than the Barossa, yes we’ve been disappointed with the quality /cost here!), for taste and value Jarvis Estate was by far the best.

P.s Just read Claire’s review; Ulf is a very experienced European professional, passionate about the wine he is selling. He made comments to me too, that some might take offense to. But I took them as they were intended; with good humour. His description of the wines was unsurpassed by any cellar door person we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Its unfortunate that today’s younger generation of PC snowflakes, can’t see it...

We visited on New Year's Day and were received in an unwelcome and rude manner by the staff member at the cellar door. We arrived at 4:25 and she told us that it was too late to taste more than one or two wines before the closing time of 5:00, and when we asked about camping were given an odd and patronising answer. We tried the cabernet sauvignon which was okay but didn't stand out for us. We would have tried a second but another group entered and our host received them rudely and spoke quite condescendingly to them about wearing masks (where a simple polite request as other cellar doors do would have sufficed). We were quite shocked and taken aback by the rudeness and left without trying a second wine. With so many nice and friendly staff welcoming us to other cellar doors, this experience stood out sharply and for the wrong reasons. Sadly, would not recommend a visit.

Update: I received a call from the team at Jarvis Estate to discuss this experience. The team apologised and were very polite and receptive to the feedback, and explained that this was an unusual occurrence and not their normal way of business. All people and organisations have occasional slip ups and I appreciated the time taken to speak to me and think that their acknowledgement and push for improvement was highly professional...

Absolutely would NOT recommend this place with a group on a wine tour. To begin with, communication via email to book the time was unclear and required follow-up on our end. On the day, we had Ulf presenting the wines to us (which were great) and he was very knowledgeable… but that’s about where the positives stop. His tolerance for tipsy people was absolutely zero. We were a group of 13 25-35 year olds so not a hugely rowdy bunch, just enjoying the day after a few wines. Ulf was rude and abrupt in trying to quiet the group to share his knowledge of the wines. At one point he slammed his hand down on the bench in an angry way to get our attention. Within 5 minutes of arriving, he told my husband to “control your woman” in reference to me because he clearly didn’t appreciate my banter. Seems like the wrong job for him as I’m sure he would have to present to tipsy groups out for a fun day on a regular basis. Our group nearly left because of the “control your woman” comment and none of us felt like buying the wines (even though we liked them) because of that and other comments. Again, definitely avoid this place in a group (and honestly, maybe...