Payten and Jones

Being allegedly the only two (literate) students to Graduate Healesville High School in ’97, we were always destined to work together. Behn (the Payten) drove his first Tractor at the age of 5. Troy (the Jones) was talking by the age of 1 and hasn’t shut up since.
Naturally we fell in with the wrong crowd out here, and became Vignerons/Winemakers.
Behn’s dad Pete knows a thing or two about vineyards. In his years of working in the industry, he managed Australia’s first certified organic vineyard and always focused heavily on sustainability, so we knew we were in good hands. The three of us continue to spend regular nights on the red, solving the world’s problems.
Since going into wine together, we’ve fallen into a lifestyle of lazy Sundays, drinking wine, shooting rabbits, family and mates*.We’re doing our utmost to pass this lifestyle on to our children**.
*In the interests of clarity, we would like to note that drinking wine is not limited to lazy sundays, and they only shoot rabbits, not family and mates.
** In the interests of not looking like terrible parents, we would also like to note that the lifestyle we want to pass on is being able to make a life out of wine, and living and working in our beloved Yarra Valley. The rest is a bonus.
Payten & Jones wines are a little different – they are a little murky in the glass and can sometimes throw a bit of sediment.
Our wines always look better with a bit of air, served in a glass (although a jug can also work), at the right temperature, with amazing food and great company.
The wines are not ‘perfect’ by industry standards, but they have the perfect personality for the situations they’re made for.




We reckon drinking these wines is like experiencing a band live, as opposed to listening to a studio recorded track.There’s minimal intervention, a bit of ‘raw’ processes, and nothing filtered or cleaned up in any way.
The wines aren’t ‘squeaky clean’, they are a bit ‘edgy’, even a bit ‘raw’. Always interesting, with a little soul left in.
Delicious, always smashable. And bloody good with any food.




(We are also indebted to the people who feel the same when they drink one of our wines, be them Bush Poet or or even Queenslander.)