Our story 

 

Made by winemakers Candice Helbig and Frewin Ries, CRFT Wines express the individualism of location. We specialise in small-batch, single vineyard wines, using fruit sourced from a handful of blocks in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, and Barossa Valley – Kaurna, Peramangk and Ngadjuri Country.

 
A landscape shot of the certified organic Adelaide Hills Winery – home to CRFT Wines.
 

Our wines express the place where it started and the uniqueness that comes from individual sites.


Each wine is made from grapes picked from a single vineyard, and every bottle becomes a reflection of that one individual location - a story of site, soil and season.

We source fruit from 10 vineyards across the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley including our own NASAA Certified Organic Adelaide Hills property – named Arranmore.

Our winemaking philosophy is simple: preserve what the vineyard grew and create balance and harmony, allowing the vineyard shine.


Founded in 2012, CRFT is the culmination of a long-held dream between winemakers Candice Helbig and Frewin Ries.

 
CRFT Wines founders and Adelaide Hills winery owner Candice Helbig (sitting in a black and white shirt) and Frewin Ries (standing in a red jacket).

The pair of us (we met in 2005 and married in 2014) wanted to champion the incredible diversity of soils and climates across South Australia’s sub-regions, at times even in sites separated by just a few kilometres.

We had also developed a shared obsession with single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Shiraz. Travelling through Austria in 2009 cemented our love for the Austrian variety Grüner Veltliner, then uncommon in the Adelaide Hills.

With a long-standing dream to have our own vineyard and grow our own grapes, we purchased the Arranmore Vineyard in 2016, located on Peramangk Country in the Piccadilly Valley, Adelaide Hills. We immediately converted the vineyard to organic farming and in February 2019 the Arranmore Vineyard became NASAA Certified Organic.

Our estate-owned, NASAA Certified Organic Arranmore Vineyard range includes Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Grüner Veltliner, three varieties we’re incredibly passionate about.

We live at Arranmore in Carey Gully, Adelaide Hills, with our son Ari and two labradors, Angus and Tumby.

 

About Candice & Frewin

CRFT Wines co-founder and Adelaide Hills winery owner Candice Helbig wears a patterned shirt and jeans, holding a glass of pinot noir.

Candice Helbig, winemaker


Candice grew up surrounded by the rolling vineyards of the Barossa Valley and began working in the wine industry at age 17, straight out of high school. She soon realised winemaking was her real passion – and where the excitement could be found.

Candice studied Wine Science (Oenology) through Charles Sturt University and launched her winemaking career with prominent wineries including Hardy Wine Company and Mollydooker, as well as several custom-make facilities. She has now completed over 20 vintages making wines from almost every wine region in South Australia.

In 2009, Candice and Frewin travelled through some of the world’s most famous wine regions in Europe, the United States and South America. The trip inspired a whole new appreciation of wine and a drive to create something special and truly unique.

CRFT Wines was born three years later, in 2012. Since then, Candice has devoted her time solely to CRFT, throwing her love and attention into crafting our single-vineyard wines.

Candice’s two great passions are Chardonnay and Gruner Veltliner (closely followed by Pinot Noir!), and though she and Frewin now live in the Adelaide Hills, she maintains a strong connection to her family and birthplace by making Barossa Valley Shiraz and Mencia.

CRFT Wines co-founder and Adelaide Hills winery owner Frewin Ries wears a blue patterned shirt and jeans, holding a glass of pinot noir.

Frewin Ries, winemaker


Frewin is one of those lucky people who knew what he wanted to do from a very young age. He grew up on New Zealand’s North Island and by age 17 had already ticked off his first vintage, at Cloudy Bay in Marlborough.

At 19, Frewin graduated with a wine diploma and went on to hone his skills working 20 vintages across more than 15 wineries and vineyards in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and France.

He developed a love for the intricacies of making single-vineyard Pinot Noir while working in Marlborough from 1998 to 2001 and during a stint at the Russian River Pinot House, Williams Selyem Winery in California in 2003.

In 2009, Frewin and Candice quit their winemaking jobs to travel the world on a seven-month wine and food tour, stopping over in the wine regions of Chile, Argentina, the United States and Europe. One afternoon, sitting beside the Danube River after visiting Austria’s Wachau region, Frewin and Candice hatched the grand plan to make their own single vineyard Grüner Veltliner back home in the Adelaide Hills.

In 2010, Frewin put his growing knowledge of Australia’s unique terroir to work and founded Complexity Wines, a company making wine from more than 50 family-owned vineyards throughout South Australia’s premium wine regions.

Frewin continues to head Complexity Wines, is a consultant for United Kingdom produce importer IPL/Asda and is chief plunger and wader for CRFT Wines.

 
CRFT Wines co-founders Candice Helbig and Frewin Ries standing near their two labradors in their Adelaide Hills winery Tasting Room.
CRFT Wines co-founder Candice Helbig holds a glass of single-vineyard Pinot Noir at the Adelaide Hills winery in the Adelaide Hills.
CRFT Wines co-founder Frewin Ries shows a man and woman their Adelaide Hills winery, in South Australia.