Barossa Chapters Rare & Distinguished Barossa Chapters Rare & Distinguished Barossa owes much to Europe. Its name, cultural instincts, languages, food, viticultural and winemaking heritage, are all transportations that have been moulded and honed by 175 years of Australian innovation. Cover Image: Ben Radford Rockford Wines Photo: Copyright Yalumba Barossa One could be forgiven for thinking Entrepreneurs with big visions built white wines such as Riesling and Barossa was settled by the Spanish. stone wineries and started making Chardonnay as well as medium body Its name can certainly be traced fortified “ports” and “sherries” as well reds such as Shiraz and Cabernet. back to the windswept Barrosa Ridge as fine table wines called “claret” and Now Barossa is the most recognised in the Spanish region of Andalusia “hermitage” and “burgundy”, paying name in Australian winemaking, due to where in March 1811 Lieutenant homage to European tradition. Barossa its forgiving viticultural environment, General Thomas Graham of the became the largest wine-producing its treasure-trove of century old British Army defeated the French region in Australia by the turn of the pre-phylloxera vines and its six Marshal Victor, during the Napoleonic century, sustaining a community of generations of grapegrowing and Peninsular Wars. grapegrowers, winemakers, cellar winemaking heritage. hands and coopers and earning Graham received a peerage and significant export income for the state But it has also evolved over 175 years was named Lord Lynedoch but it was of South Australia. into much more than a wine region. his young aide-de-camp Lieutenant Old Silesian cultural food traditions William Light who was to remember Through the 20th century Barossa had continue to be celebrated, such as the the name. When he was appointed its booms and busts – Imperial demand fermentation of meats into sausage Surveyor General of the new colony of crashed during both wars and in the and wursts; salting and smoking South Australia in 1836 and discovered post-war 1960s and 1970s customers hams and bacon; the preservation of a verdant valley he named it Barrosa wanted sweet sparkling wines such as fruits and vegetables such as pickled – and a slip of the pen by a public Barossa Pearl and Cold Duck. onions and dill cucumbers and the administrator gave the region its Finally Barossa settled on what its soils maintenance of age old baking unique name, Barossa. and climate do best – ripening red wine traditions: sour dough breads, pretzels grapes – and from the 1980s onwards and streuselkuchen. However it was not Spanish but English its fame grew for its full bodied Shiraz and Silesian settlers who pioneered and Cabernet, Grenache and Mataro. There are also European music traditions the region. The English, including the In the late 1990s during an still maintained such as brass bands and colony’s founder George Fife Angas, international boom in demand for men’s and women’s choirs and Barossa took over pastoral sheep and cattle Australian wine, the Australian Wine continues to be the epicentre Lutheran runs in Eden Valley, east of Angaston; and Brandy Corporation decided to faith in Australia with more than a and the Silesian settlers – mainly define Australia’s regions along similar dozen steepled churches dotted across peasant farmers and artisans fleeing (but less restrictive) lines to Europe’s the valleys. Prussian religious persecution – settled appellation system. the Valley floor at Bethany, Langmeil, This colourful culture has attracted Tanunda and Nuriootpa. The Barossa’s winemaking geographic thousands of new settlers over indication zone was formalised in 1997, subsequent generations, continuing After experimenting with a range comprising two regions: the warmer the immigration that started in the of crops, from flax to tobacco, the Barossa Valley “floor” specialising in 1840s, making Barossa a vibrant, Silesians found the Mediterranean red wine and the cooler, higher altitude diverse and exciting contemporary climate suited wine grapes. Eden Valley, which focussed on fine Australian community. Barossa Chapters Rare & Distinguished Barossa Rare & Distinguisghed As a classic If Australia has a regional wine story Elderton’s Ashmead Single Vineyard world wine that has resonance around the world Cabernet has been a Jimmy Watson region Barossa then it is surely the story of Barossa. winner and Seppelt Dorrien Cabernet is distinguished sourced from an old vineyard at the by its rare and Most international wine regions can epicenter of the Barossa Valley floor, collectable claim a fine wine story of excellence was one of the icons of the 1990s and wines – from in one particular variety, style or early 2000s. old vine Shiraz expression. Few regions, however, can claim to be as synonymous with a Eden Valley Riesling and Cabernet country’s reputation for international The story is not just about red, however. Sauvignon to wine acclaim as Barossa, renowned Eden Valley Riesling is a style and international as it is for a portfolio of varieties, achievement of equal endeavour, with award winning blends, estates, single-vineyards and a distinct signature of lime, apple, talc Riesling and 100 flagship releases. and slatey-mineral purity that often year old fortifieds can be just emerging at 10 years of that defy one’s bottle age. Peter Lehmann’s Reserve imagination Barossa Shiraz Rieslings of the 1990s (particularly with their taste The story of Barossa Shiraz is a lineage the 1993 and 1996) are legendary of the past. that started in the 19th century with having won every wine show in “claret” and “hermitage”, but found Australia multiple times. Re-badged its modern expression with Penfolds in 2003 as the Wigan (honouring Grange in 1951. Since then the region winemaker Andrew Wigan) it has has spawned dozens of exemplary been named ‘Best Riesling in the Shiraz – Henschke Hill of Grace World’ in the International Wine and and Mount Edelstone, St Hallett Old Spirit Competition six times in the past Block, Rockford Basket Press, Grant decade, and accumulated more than Burge Meshach, Peter Lehmann 80 trophies. Stonewell and Torbreck The Laird, to acknowledge a few of the most Barossa Fortifieds collectable brands. *See Barossa If there is a single, literal monument Shiraz to Barossa’s ability to demonstrate fine wine heritage, it must surely Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon be the Camelot-like presence Penfolds 1888 Block 42 near Kalimna is of Seppeltsfield. one of the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon plantings in Australia and still It is a unique estate that houses consistently contributes to Penfolds’ the world’s oldest, unbroken line of flagship wines. But there are others – fortified wines dating back to 1878, 1914 100 Year Old Para Liqueur “Deep, dark mahogany; pours like treacle, literally stains the walls of the glass and won’t let go; burnt molasses; 100 year old balsamic vinegar; this doesn’t explode in your mouth it implodes, a black hole in space sucking everything into it. All this achieved in the smallest sip.” 100 points James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion. started by Oscar Benno Seppelt when he reserved a single barrel of what was then called tawny port. A century and a half and more than 130 individually dated annual barrels later, Seppeltsfield now provides visitors with a chance to taste their birth year and enjoy wines that are still made using the gravity fed ‘lagars’. Learn more and watch videos at barossa.com/wine/barossa-chapters. What makes a rare wine is its ability to tell a compelling story of its place, its climate, its soil and most of all its people… we remember that story and we tell other people.” Ben Radford, Rockford Wines Barossa Chapters Rare & Distinguished Langton’s Langton’s Classification of secondary wine market). Australian Wine started in 1990 as an From the inaugural Classification of independent “form guide” to Australia’s 34 wines in 1990, the sixth edition – finest wines and has become the Langton’ s Classification of Australian most widely recognised classification Wine VI released in May 2014 – now outside of Europe. Wines that enter the records 139 wines. Classification must have a minimum of ten vintages and have established Barossa has the largest percentage a consistent following by collectors of Shiraz-based wines in and investors at wine auctions (the the Classification. The ascendancy of the Barossa continues” with its best wines Exceptional Outstanding Excellent having a “hallowed reputation The most highly Benchmark quality High performing amongst wine collectors”. sought after and wines with a very wines of exquisite highly prized strong market quality. Andrew Caillard, MW first-growth type following. Australian wines. Charles Melton Nine BVE Black Popes Grenache Penfolds Grange* Pepper Shiraz Shiraz Mourvèdre Chris Ringland Glaetzer Elderton Command Shiraz AMON-Ra Shiraz Single Vineyard Shiraz Henschke Hill of Grant Burge Grace Shiraz Meshach Shiraz Henschke Keyneton Euphonium Shiraz Henschke Mt Greenock Creek Cabernet Edelstone Shiraz Roennfeldt Road Cabernet Sauvignon John Duval Plexus Rockford Basket Shiraz Grenache Press Shiraz Greenock Creek Mourvédre Roennfeldt Seppeltsfield 100 Road Shiraz Kalleske Johann Year Old Para Georg Old Vintage Tawny Henschke Cyril Vine Shiraz Henschke Cabernet Torbreck RunRig Sauvignon Langmeil The Shiraz Freedom 1843 Shiraz Kaesler Wines Old Bastard Shiraz Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz* Penfolds Bin 389 Shiraz Cabernet* Pewsey Vale The Contours Riesling Penfolds St Henri Shiraz* Rolf Binder