Tscharke

The Free Bacchus Story

Damien Tscharke’s family has farmed in the Barossa for more than 180 years. His grandparents, Gary and Irene, set up a mixed farm at Seppeltsfield and planted its first 30 acres of vines, and for most of the family’s history they grew grapes for bigger wineries. When Damien finished his degree in 2000, making wine looked to him like a better career than being a poor farmer. His first crush, in 2001, was a garage job done after hours. By the end of 2002 he had five wines out under the family’s own licence.

Marananga is on the Barossa’s western ridge, in the north of the valley, where the soils carry ironstone and make some of the region’s biggest wines. It was called Gnadenfrei until 1918, and two of the family’s vineyards still carry the old name. The Barossa made its reputation on big Shiraz. Tscharke leans towards Grenache, which in the Barossa gives a lighter, more perfumed red, and towards clay amphorae and concrete rather than new oak.

All four estate vineyards, from the Gnadenfrei South block planted in 1957 to Gnadenfrei North, planted in 2017, are certified organic and biodynamic by Southern Cross Certified, and the certificate names the wines one by one. The farming runs on compost, cover crops and animals, with the biodynamic preparations made on the estate. Damien says the major pests and diseases have almost disappeared since they began farming this way, and that the grapes now keep more of their natural acidity.

His sister Kylie, who joined when it was just Damien and a casual worker, now runs the vineyards and the winery. In March 2026 they put in their own bottling line. It is slow by design, 1,200 bottles an hour, because the winery says organic rules cap the sulphur it can add, and every bit of oxygen picked up in bottling matters more.