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A Taste of Australian Wine
'The Barossa Valley'
by Gavin Trott
There wouldn't be much doubt that 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, 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.
Pleasing the customer should be obvious, but it appears that not all wine
producers 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, 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 seem to get it about right most of the time.
Quality
… at the top end the quality is amazing, Grange, Old Block,
Nine Popes, 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, 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 chocolate/mocha
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
Dutschke St. Jakobi and Oscar Semmler
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.
Try
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
Try
Penfolds Grandfather
Seppelt DP 90
Saltram Pickwicks
Yalumba Galway Pipe
Gavin is the manager of the
Australian Wine Centre (a large
collection of affordable, rare and cult Australian wines) and hosts the very
popular Auswine Forum (An online
discussion forum about Australian wine) . You may reprint this article either on
a website or in print but you must maintain this resource section naming the
author. Please email the author with
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