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Gavin Trott
Grape Stomper
Posts:112
 | | 01/03/2003 12:52 AM |
| Hello all
Hope you found part 1 interesting and useful.
Gavin
Barossa Valley
There wouldn't be much doubt if I asked people around the world to name just one Australian wine region, most would say the Barossa Valley. Why is this, well some excellent promotion over the years has helped, it is the home of Penfolds Grange after all, plus there are a myriad of other reasons.
An important factor in this is the fact that the Barossa Valley is our most important wine region. Just look at the names based there, a who’s who of large quality producers, mixed with some of our most stunning boutique wineries. Any list would have to include Wolf Blass, Penfolds, Orlando, Seppelts, Peter Lehmann, Yalumba, and Krondorf, who between them produce some 50% of all of Australia’s wine!
Add to this the important boutique producers like Charles Melton, Rockfords, Henschke, St Hallett, Greenock Creek, Torbreck and others and you can see that this is the region most people start with when discovering Australian wine.
However, the real reason lies in the wines themselves, as they offer a unique style of wine coupled with remarkably consistent quality.
Style … well, the Barossa producers all make wines designed to please. Seems obvious I know, but not all wine producers seem to aim to please the consumer all the time! In the Barossa they take all those many hours of sunshine and clean air and turn it into wine, all flavour, ripeness and health in a bottle. Many of the wines are made not for deep thinking and considering, but for enjoying. They are fun wines, upfront, tasty and enjoyable, made to be slurped down with good food and good friends. A generalisation … of course it is, but not far off the truth I think.
The style does emphasise two things however, very ripe fruit (indeed its hard to grow fruit there that does not get fully ripe) and American oak. At its best this produces wines chock full of fruit flavour with hints of chocolate and vanilla, often at great bargain prices. It can occasionally be overdone, over ripe and over oaked, but these wines are slowly lessening in number I think, most producers get it about right most of the time.
Quality … at the top end the quality is amazing, Grange, Old Block, Nine Popes, the Run Rig and many others prove that the Barossa makes world class wine. However the valley makes wines of an extremely high standard across the board, and at almost every price level, from Grange down to Krondorf Shiraz. Indeed, it is hard to find a Barossa Valley wine that is not clean, well made and enjoyable, and the range of exceptional quality wines is expanding annually.
Climate … the Barossa Valley is some 45 minutes drive north west of Adelaide, and just far enough inland to be away from the moderating effect of the sea enjoyed by McLaren Vale. On average it is also a couple of degrees warmer than Adelaide and has long and pretty dry summers. It is a climate suitable for grape ripening, so ripe grapes is what you get, cool climate varieties do not work, and you can safely ignore most Riesling, all Pinot Noir, all Sauvignon Blanc and look for wines emphasising fruit and flavour.
Varieties … look for flavour, richness and ripeness so Semillon, Chardonnay on the riper end, Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot and ports are the staples.
Semillon … Semillon is a surprisingly successful variety in this region. However, do not look for wines like those from the Hunter Valley, these are on the riper end of the spectrum, often oak aged, and designed to be enjoyed while young. They are in the main excellent, and make a terrific alternative to the ever-present Chardonnay! Enjoy them with richer seafood dishes, they are great with poultry and can handle the rich sauces that other wine styles can't
Try
Jenke Semillon
Basedows Semillon
Chardonnay … the Chardonnays from the Barossa are wines of richness and ripeness, often barrel fermented, and they are designed to be enjoyed young. You should expect flavours in the riper peach and melon range, often with buttery flavours and usually in American oak. Very attractive drinking when young, and again, able to cope with rich seafood and poultry, even some char grilled flavours.
Try
Peter Lehmann
Bethany
Grant Burge
Orlando St Hilary
Grenache … this is Grenache country, indeed the Grenache revolution started here with Charles Melton and his Nine Popes, and continues strongly today. The Barossa has some of Australia's, indeed the world's, best and oldest Grenache vineyards. These are mostly bush vines and un irrigated providing small crops of very intensely flavoured grapes. Most of these used to be blended with Shiraz and sometimes Mourvedre, but increasingly they are 100% Grenache. Terrific wines full of rich upfront flavours, most of which won't cellar, or at least do not need to be cellared. Nine Popes is a notable exception.
Drink these with rich meat dishes, casseroles, hearty dishes, game meats and char gilled meats and barbeques.
Try
Rockford Grenache
Charles Melton Nine Popes
Turkey Flat Grenache Noir
Yalumba Bushvine Grenache
Penfolds Old Vines
Veritas
Cabernet … Barossa Valley Cabernets really have more to do with their region than with classic Cabernet flavours. The sunshine wins out against the variety I think. Don't expect many of these wines to mimic Bordeaux, they can't, indeed I don't think they want to. The wines will be all about rich fruit, flavours in the blackberry and plum group, American oak usually, with ripe tannins and medium term cellaring life. The best of these create a lovely chololate/moccha edge to the wine, very attractive and appealing if not overdone. Drink with lamb, beef, your favourite red meat dish really.
Try
Charles Melton
Elderton
Peter Lehmann
Henschke Cyril Henschke
Greenock Creek
Shiraz … the Barossa Valley and Shiraz go together. Many vineyards of very old vines, dry grown grapes, small yields and American oak create richness, flavour, length, aging ability, spice, chocolate and much more. These wines are identified by their personality, fruit and more fruit, noticeable oak and aromas that leap out of the glass, they are real 'in your face' styles of wines. Drink these with red meats, they are great with beef particularly.
Try (well, where do I start and end?)
Charles Melton
Peter Lehmann
St Hallett Old Block
Henschke Mt Edelstone and Hill of Grace
Grange (although these days this is much more a multi regional blend)
Turkey Flat
Rockford Basket Press
Veritas Hanisch Vineyard
Greenock Creek 7 Acre Shiraz
Yalumba Octavius
Torbreck Run Rig
Merlot … a recent arrival as a varietal wine but it shows great promise. Again expect rich upfront flavours and designed to be enjoyed while young.
Jenke Merlot
Miranda Merlot
Ports
These are tawny port styles; solera blends most of them. However they have been made for generations and so the stocks of older wines are outstanding. Tawny brown in colour, these wines are amazing value for money, incredibly complex, rich yet often light, and the perfect end to a meal
Penfolds Grandfather
Seppelt DP 90
Saltram Pickwicks
Yalumba Galway Pipe
Please feel free to post your questions below, or to comment or argue. All of this is generalised, but meant purely as a learning aid and starting off point.
The next step should be to try some of these wines, and post your thoughts to this board, I look forward to hearing from some of you.
To start off I will post a couple of Barossa Valley tasting notes underneath. Yes these could go in another section, but I think it may work here.
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| Gavin Trott
Grape Stomper
Posts:112
| | 12/31/2002 1:18 AM |
| Just a couple of recent tasting notes for you
2000 Kaesler Old Vine Shiraz- This smells and tastes exactly as it is, 100% Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz, and all the better for it. Its deep black cherry colour with a delightful nose full of ripe fruit, all spicy black plums and black berries, hints of vanilla beans and silky hints of liquorice, very fleshy and flashy. The palate too lives up to the promise with the same silky and voluptuous mouthfeel all these Kaesler reds seem to get, spicy fruit, sweet oak, rich and soft with fine tannins on a long finish. The wine opened up significantly over time showing more and more layers, one to cellar and decanter before drinking.
2001 Tin Shed Single Wire Shiraz- Deep purple black, lovely colour with no hints of red at all, vibrant young wine. The nose is all Shiraz, loads of plummy blackberry fruit, spice, violets with a light dusting of subtle vanilla, very aromatic and enticing. The palate is outstanding, with flavour filling all corners of the mouth and a terrific velvety mouthfeel. Dark fruits dominate, blackberries and ripe plums (but not stewed or over ripe at all) and mulberry with an inky depth and very subtle vanilla from some well handled oak. The wine has some structure, very fine ripe tannins coat the mouth without puckering, acid is fresh, and the wine is amazingly long and persistent. This is ripe Barossa Shiraz done exceptionally well, without any over ripeness, no over alcohol and no chocolate, just purity of ripe fruit dominant, wonderful!
1996 Orlando Centenary Shiraz - Wow, I love this wine, this is my style of red, 100% Barossa Valley Shiraz, ripe and bursting with flavour, yet not over-oaked, and not with ridiculous levels of alcohol. Added to this, it has 6 years of bottle age, and is very enjoyable now. The colour is still a deep red purple and the nose is a blend of deep and rich plummy fruit, with hints of smoky oak and cedar, raspberry scented fruits, spice and more, layers of aromas. In the palate the wine is even more impressive showing great sustained flavours, mixing raspberry and plum fruit, a little liquorice with cedary oak and chocolate. The finish is especially impressive, and long dense blast of chocolate and coffee edged fruit, and some very fine tannins. The mouthfeel of this wine is wonderful. The 1995 vintage of this wine was excellent, this is better!
Three typical Barossa Valley red wines.
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| stemor
Collierville, TN
Wine Thief
Posts:2817
| | 12/31/2002 3:01 AM |
| Gavin,
Nicely done, as usual. Thanks for feeding my craving for AUS info (and wine ).
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Cheers, y'all | |
| Marc A
Grape Sorter
Posts:259
| | 01/03/2003 12:52 AM |
| | Gavin- thank you for the lesson. I definately find them interesting and enjoyable. | | | |
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