Barossa Chapters Discovery Barossa Chapters Discovery 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: Fraser McKinley Sami-Odi 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 Discovery Barossa Discovery The growers and Complacency is not something Muscat-à-Petits Grains – exotic winemakers of Barossa has ever struggled with. It European varieties left over from Barossa are on a could have easily rested on its laurels an earlier fortified era – make fresh, perpetual mission at points during its 175-year timeline, textural white wines and medium to full of innovation – contented with its own pre-eminence bodied reds when deftly handled by rediscovering in Shiraz and Cabernet, Eden Valley innovative young winemakers. old varieties and Riesling and ancient fortifieds. But like making them into old European regions that continue to But as well as this rediscovery of the grow and develop, Barossa has never past there has been the impetuous new fine wine been satisfied with the status quo – its discovery of the new. styles or importing growers and winemakers and food Italian and producers are always on a quest for In many cases the drivers of this Spanish varieties self-improvement and reinvention. revolution have been winemakers, that meet the a curious bunch who work overseas challenge of future Through the 1990s and early 2000s vintages as a rite of passage and bring climate change. there was a renaissance of respect for that international vigour back home to This commitment to old varieties: certainly Shiraz, but also their wineries. self-improvement Grenache and Mataro (Mourvédre) is only what you and Semillon. This rediscovery was a So Viognier from the south of France long overdue acknowledgement that has emerged as a variety that revels expect from a these workhorses of the fortified era in Barossa’s warm Mediterranean region that is could indeed make fine varietal table climate, producing a rich textural white 175 years old… wines of character, richness and length wine that fits between Riesling and and counting. and they are now a well-established Chardonnay – or when blended in tiny part of the Barossa wine list. quantities provides an aromatic lift and palate sweetness in Shiraz. That rediscovery from within has continued as growers offer up small Growers, on the other hand, are driven patches of old varieties that were by more earthly concerns. Climate once so worthless that they didn’t even change is real to these men and women waste the money to pull them out. The of the soil and they know that for the cows and sheep pruned them and the eight or ninth generation to continue weeds grew around their feet until a they will need vines that can grow new generation of winemakers asked with lower winter rainfall and higher the question. summer temperatures. Now Carignan, Touriga Nacional, So to them a Mediterranean theme Cinsault, Durif, Marsanne, Petit Verdot, makes sense for more practical Discovery for our generation is not so much about reinventing the wheel or trying to start again... it’s about about polishing it, maintaining it and making it work better.” – Fraser McKinley reasons such as drought tolerance and fungal disease resistance, which is why varieties from Italy and Spain and Portugal – Sagrantino and Sangiovese, Tempranillo and Zinfandel and Savagnin and Roussane – are finding their way into Barossa vineyards. The result of this experimentation is not a confused fruit salad, but rather a constantly evolving palette of flavours and textures and a mature realisation that time – and consumer taste – doesn’t stand still. Learn more and watch videos at barossa.com/wine/barossa-chapters. In old, established winegrowing regions such as the Barossa Valley, red grapes such as Mataro, Carignan and Cinsault, long considered second-rate varieties, are now sought after both for their savoury flavours and their suitability to hot, dry growing conditions. This resonates strongly with the rediscovery and promotion of heritage fruits and vegetables and rare breed animals championed by the Slow Food and farmers’ market movements…” – Max Allen, The Future Makers Barossa Chapters Discovery Barossa Varieties and Styles to Discover Most European Sparkling Red Wines Gewürztraminer wine regions Due to the abundance of superb An aromatic variety that is grown in excel in only red grapes, sparkling red wine is the cooler Eden Valley region, with 19 one particular far more prevalent in Barossa than hectares planted. High natural sugar variety, style sparkling white or rosé. Shiraz is the results in wines that are usually made in or expression. main variety used, however Merlot, an off-dry style with perfumed aromas. Barossa, however, Lagrein and Petit Verdot also feature. can confidently Typical wines display elegance boast of producing and complexity, retention of their Marsanne black fruit core, persistence and a an impressive Only a very small amount of Marsanne lingering aftertaste. portfolio of is grown in Barossa Valley, with 11 varieties, blends, hectares planted, and is mostly used estates, single Rosé in blended wines with Rousanne vineyards and and Viognier. iconic wines. Barossa Rosé is a light- to medium- bodied style of wine using Cabernet Pinot Gris Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz or Grenache. Classic examples are Grows best in cooler climates, made with no (or minimal) influence hence most plantings are located of oak or malolactic fermentation and in Eden Valley. 52 hectares in total are most commonly refreshing and are planted across Barossa making bright with little or no residual sugar. it the seventh most planted white variety. The wines vary in colour from pale straw to yellow to copper and Other White Wines even a light shade of pink due to this grape’s slightly pink coloured skin. Although Eden Valley Riesling is well Within Eden Valley, you will find wines known, as are other white varieties labelled both Pinot Gris and Pinot such as Chardonnay and Semillon, Grigio, depending on the weight and there are several additional varieties texture of the wine, with crisper, lighter planted throughout the Barossa and wines often labelled Pinot Grigio.