THE WINTER WEATHER
seems to have arrived early this year.
There are some great red wines that will hopefully keep the chill out and many of them come from one of the greatest wine regions in the world that is also quintessentially Australian – the Barossa Valley in South Australia.
I think everyone who has ever enjoyed a glass of red wine has had a Barossa red. There is nowhere else in Australia that, when you mention a region, makes people sigh and say “ahh shiraz”.
The shiraz from the Barossa Valley is one of the most distinctly Aussie wines we produce: rich and chocolatey, spicy, bold and quite in-your-face, with often enough alcohol to rival Bundy rum.
I guess you could say that the Barossa is home to shiraz in Australia. It is definitely grown in other areas around Oz, but I think it is here that its taste is uniquely Australian.
I think over the past ten years the Barossa has changed dramatically. I also believe that many people in the wine world would disagree with me and be shocked to hear such a comment.
When I say it has changed, I don’t mean you can’t get a Coopers at the Tanunda Pub or people down there have suddenly started supporting the Brisbane Lions – I mean the winemaking has changed.
Emerging from an area filled with great tradition and some amazing family history, is the new breed of winemaker. In some ways this might be off-putting to a long time Barossa drinker, but this has coincided with one of the greatest times in the region’s history.
Most Australians who drink shiraz have heard of St Hallet, Peter Lehman, Yalumba, Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Jacobs Creek – all of which make some of the great wines of Oz.
But coming through are wines, most notably shiraz, that can be drunk right now.
I am sure we have all cellared Barossa reds for many years, waiting for the big tannins to soften enough so our mouth isn’t ripped apart or the moisture removed from your mouth for ten minutes.
While some enjoy this experience, I personally enjoy fruit in my wine; I want all the cherry and mulberry character right there when I open it without having my head ripped off. Lying a wine down for too long waiting for tannin to soften leaves the wine lacking all that lovely fruit.
Robert O’Callaghan of Rockford wines was possibly the first to make wine this way.
When the government wanted to rip out vines, O’Callaghan was a huge reason the region was saved. Using traditional basket presses and modern winemaking techniques, his first vintage was 1984.
I am sure you’re saying “how can this be a new wave 25 years on?”.
Rockford has been a success in South Australia for many years, being only sold to cellar door customers and by mail order. Their use of very old (60 to 136 years) vines that are low yielding with good quality oak is what possibly started the revolution of the Barossa.
It was Chris Ringland next to break the mould. He was the first winemaker to work with O’Callaghan at Rockford and made a major name for himself with the Three Rivers Shiraz in 1993.
Robert Parker, an acclaimed wine critic, is said to have thought it the best shiraz Australia had ever made. Ringland wines are now also hugely sought after with the Three Rings and little R wines sometimes difficult to get hold of.
I guess the floodgates opened at the end of the ’90s with the like of Glaetzer, Ben Riggs and Dave Powell all doing stints at Rockford and all making a name for themselves as amazing winemakers.
Dave Powell from Torbreck Wines explains that it is the old vines helping with the job. Bush grown vines (no trellises) are yielding such spectacular fruit it is almost hard not to make a ripper wine from them.
Torbreck Wines’ first vintage was 1994, and the wines have since become an Aussie icon with the Run Rig Shiraz highly sought after and the ’03 vintage receiving 100 points.
A very young winemaker at Massena wines is Dan Standish and he will be one to watch out for. Kalleske is another name to watch – growers since 1853 at Greenock in the Barossa. The current generation of Tony and Troy Kalleske are making the jump up.
The family vineyard has been a long-time supplier of premium organic fruit to some major wineries, but has been taking the world by storm since the release of the first family wine in 2004; they also have a second label to watch out for called Laughing Jack.
My last name on the new wave is not so new: Lehman. Although coming from humble stock, the current winemaker goes by his mum’s name of Franz.
David Franz Lehman is a chip off the old Peter Lehman block and he is successfully making his own way in the wine world.
I only came across these wines last year when a friend gave me a bottle of the Larrikin – a blend of old vine GSM. People don’t give me enough wine as they always think I have heaps, so this was a treat. It is an amazing wine to drink now with spice, mulberries and rich chocolate. This is what to look for from the new/old wave from the Barossa Valley.
A great range of Barossa wines is available in Maleny’s Purple Palate (the old Tanunda cellars), including heaps of back vintages.
TOP TEN
Torbreck Woodcutters $20
David Franz Larrikin $55
Laughing Jack shiraz $35
Chris Ringland 3 Rings $25
Peter Lehman Futures $25
Rockford Basket Press $312
Little R shiraz $18.99
Loochedoor shiraz $13.99
Torbreck Struie $50
Kalleske shiraz $35