The Kaesler family arrived in the Barossa Valley from Silesia in the 1840s and in 1891 purchased land in the Barossa, spending two years furiously planting. They planted 96 acres of Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro, along with a few white varieties. Some of the original Shiraz vines are still producing grapes which provide great intensity and depth to many of Kaesler’s wines.
wineries
Read moreChalk Hill Wines has teamed up with Never Never Distilling Co. and VPO (Vera Pizza Oztalia) to open an exciting new venue in McLaren Vale called Chalk Hill Collective.
Read moreLast Friday (24-01-2020), Matt visited Tomich Wines, who lost about a third of their vineyards in the recent Cuddle Creek Fires, to help out pruning some of the fire-ravaged vines.
Read morePindarie first produced wine under the Pindarie label in 2005. They have 100 acres planted on their 750 acre farm situated on the Barossa Valley’s Western Ridge. Fruit from the Western Ridge inspired the genesis of Spinifex Wines and forms the backbone of JJ Hahn, Murray Street, Kalleske and many other top end Barossa producers besides. Warren Randal of Seppeltsfield fame has also been snapping up vineyards in this part of the Barossa of late.
Tony Brooks from team Pindarie is a 6th generation pastoralist. He restored the stone buildings on site by hand, in the process earning for Pindarie a coveted and difficult to get Barossa Trust Mark…
Viticulturist Wendy Abrahart spent 12 years at Penfolds, becoming their senior viticulturist in the process before setting up and continuing to manage the 100 acre Pindarie vineyard.
Read moreThe Wallaroo Estate, located in the Canberra Wine District only 25 minutes from Parliament House in Canberra, comprises 300 undulating acres in the Hills of Hall area, with views over the Brindabella Mountains. Wallaroo Wines has about 100 acres under vine, yet make only about 800 dozen themselves from their best fruit. The balance of their fabulous cool climate fruit is supplied to several wineries rated 5 red stars by James Halliday, including Clonakilla, Nick O’Leary and Gundog Estate. The vineyard was established in 1996, with plantings of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and riesling. It sits at an altitude of 560 metres, and includes plantings on a northern slope of decomposed granite. Climate conditions in the vineyard are similar to those in the vineyards of the Adelaide Hills and Clare Valley wine regions. Their winemaker is Dr Roger Harris, who with his wife Fay, established another successful local winery, the Brindabella Hills Winery. While Wallaroo Wines produce both still and
First Creek have exceptional vineyard resources in the Hunter Valley, Orange and Hilltops regions of NSW. In a roundabout way they began when Greg Silkman bought The Tamburlaine winery in 1986, then went on to acquire Allanmere Wines before buying up even more high quality vineyards. Winemaker Liz has an amazing palate which is evident by her being awarded dux of the prestigious Len Evans tutorial, which James Halliday describes as the most exclusive wine school in the world. She has also been crowned Winemaker of the year at the Hunter Valley Legends awards.Read more
We can very happily vouch for their quality, as does James Halliday. Halliday rates First Creek Wines as a 5-red star producer, and offers the following… ‘The quality of the wines has been consistently exemplary, and there is every reason to believe this will continue in the years to come.’
Read moreHesketh produce exceptional wines and their alternate varietals have caused quite a stir around WDHQ, leaving many a Tasting Panel member weak at the knees. They also co-own Vickery wines with John Vickery, the master and godfather of Australian Riesling. There aren’t too many staff orders that don’t feature a bottle or 3 of one of these wines.
A bit more on Hesketh...
The Hesketh family have a long association with the Lehmann dynasty. Robert Hesketh originally formed Masterson wines with Peter Lehmann in the late 70’s – which became Peter Lehmann Wines in 1982. [caption id="attachment_1886" align="aligncenter" width="200"]
Hesketh Small Parcels Bonvedro[/caption]
This company saved plenty of Barossa growers from going under during
Read moreChateau Tanunda was built in the late 1880’s, and has plantings dating back to the 1840’s. As Europe was ravaged by phylloxera which destroyed vineyards, an opportunity arose for very profitable winemaking in Australia. At one stage the growers were getting the equivalent of about seventy bucks a litre for bulk wine... or somewhere between ten and seventy times what they‘d be getting for it today. On the back of all that cash floating from the old world towards the Barossa, Chateau Tanunda became the largest winemaking facility in the Southern Hemisphere. More than 500 local growers were extremely well paid. An absolutely magnificent series of buildings were erected, which today still form the basis of operations and winemaking at Chateau Tanunda. The cellar door is also there, pouring a significant array of wines that offer staggering value for money. That said, it hasn’t always been plain sailing. The current owners bought the property in a derelict
Read more*Read this humming to the tunes of Dino Paul Crocetti……Maybe it’s Coriole’s love and pioneering of Italian Varietals, maybe it’s the idea of sitting under the vines outside the homestead overlooking the vale on a summers day or maybe it’s just a romanticised wine lover who can’t help but entwine his wine memories to a sound track. But I think of Coriole and I think of sipping a big glass of Nebiollo or Barbera whilst sitting in my deck chair eating olives and cured meat listening to the crooners and reminiscing about the old days. Est in 1967 and working off vines planted around 1919 the Lloyd family began Coriole vineyards and to this day is still in the hand of the Lloyd family. Always keeping up with the times, Coriole’s first release was a 1970 Claret before moving into unchartered territory in the mid 80’s by planting the Italian varietal Sangiovese. The Lloyds
Read moreLionel Richie did it, Eric Clapton did it, Sting, Iggy, Lou Reed and Bret Michaels from Poison have even done it... ah wait scratch that last one, I’m talking about people who’ve successfully gone solo!In the South Australian world of wine one such solo venture that is definitely in the successful category with Lionel and Eric as opposed to a really poor 80’s hair metal solo project is Geoff Hardy’s Solo life. Leaving the family business in 1980, Geoff Hardy’s growing brands now include Pertaringa of McLaren Vale, K1 out of Adelaide HIlls and his Hand Crafted label using vineyards from the Limestone Coast, Langhorne Creek and the Adelaide Hills. Perhaps out of the three the latest incarnation is producing some of the most interesting and curios varietals in Australia. With a raft of upcoming and small grown varietals like Nero d’Avola, Dolcetto, Graciano, Montepulciano, Aglianco, Fiano, Rousanne and Savagnin to name
Read moreChildhood laughs, the wondrous joy of conquering the impossible when you’re 4 ft high and enjoying life the simple way seem to be the driving force behind two winemakers who do more for the art of friendship than the Milo and Otis movie.More rock collaboration between David Bowie and well anyone, Andy Coppard and Angela Townsends Lino Ramble 2012 vintage was their debut and it’s definitely more Under Pressure than Kiss and Michael Bolton’s 1989 power-ballad Forever. At just over a year old, Lino Ramble encapsulates all that winemaking should be about - finding good fruit and turning it into beautiful wine with minimal fuss and minimal handling. As with a number of their contemporaries, Andy and Angela have spent many a year working for someone else until the opportunity came by to take the leap of faith that is putting your money where your mouth is, and boy have they the mouth to back up the money. Currently on the greatest
Read moreGood mates, honest winemaking and some bloody old vines are the heartbeat of the Soul Growers existence. Sourcing their fruit from tiny hand selected pockets of the Barossa Valley including a 1\4 acre lot in Nuriootpa which features 130 year old Mourvedre vines, Greg Cruickshank, Paul Heinicke and James and Paul Linder believe what’s good for the soul will be good for their wine.Small batch and hand crafted is the order of the day for these boys building on reputation rather than mass production. With their small plots in Seppeltsfield, Nuriootpa and two in Tanunda producing exceptional fruit the boys then hand craft and basket press the grapes before maturing in 1-4 year French oak. The result is wine that has body, great fruit and dare I say it….. Soul. Meet the Soul Growers guys at winedirect.com.au’s Through the Tasting Glass - Curiouser & Curiouser tasting