Tomfoolery

Ben Chipman, Toby Chipman and Troy Mortimer founded Tomfoolery in 2004, registering a label rather than building a winery — a not-uncommon Barossa pattern for emerging producers in the 2000s, where the wines are made under a contract arrangement at an established Barossa winery while the brand finds its market. Ben Chipman is Tasmanian-born and moved to the Barossa as a teenager. He completed a Wine Marketing degree at Adelaide University, worked at Yalumba and Lou Miranda, then spent five years at Rockford Estate under Robert O'Callaghan — Rockford being the reference for old-school traditional Barossa Shiraz technique.

In 2011, Ben and his wife Sarah (also ex-Rockford, where the two met in 2006) bought an 1850s homestead and adjoining vineyard on the eastern slopes of the Barossa. The cellar door now operates from what was once Ben's parents' family home. The winery itself was built in 2014. The Chipman approach maps the Rockford technique forward: low-intervention winemaking with traditional fermentation methods, dry-grown old-vine fruit where available, and a bias toward big-shouldered Barossa Shiraz, Cabernet, Mataro and Grenache.

The Tomfoolery range carries playful names but classical Barossa structure: Black and Blue Shiraz (the headline Shiraz), Skullduggery Mataro Shiraz, Young Blood (multiple expressions: Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro Shiraz Grenache), Son of a Gun Cabernet Shiraz, Artful Dodger Shiraz, Monkey Business Cabernet Franc, Burla Negra Tempranillo, Trouble and Strife Rosé. White-side: Cut n Run Riesling, Fox Whistle Pinot Gris. The estate also makes Adelaide Hills excursions for Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir × Syrah blend (High Cotton).