Best of Barossa!

Torbreck...

Dave Powell founded Torbreck in 1994 and still resides as Chief Winemaker. He named his wine ‘Torbreck’ after a forest in Scotland where he worked as a lumberjack. Torbreck is based around the classic Barossa Valley varietals of Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro, but has additional plantings of Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne.  Dave has developed a love for Rhone Valley wines with their intense, rich flavors that come from old vine Shiraz and Grenache. Dave visits the Rhone Valley frequently and maintains a close relationship with Jean Louis Chave of Chave Hermitage. Actually, Dave was visiting 'Jean Louis' at the time of my interview and the assistant winemaker, Scott McDonald, who interviewed me will work next vintage at Chave in the Northern Rhone Valley. Scott worked as a Vintage Casual for many years and has been the Assistant Winemaker at Torbreck for the last four years. During my interview, not only did I get a personal tour but I got to taste their wines from Woodcutter’s Semillon to Les Amis to RunRig, sorry no The Factor! Torbreck’s wines display great concentration, fruit purity and tremendous texture that only the most meticulous winemaking can achieve. It was a very enjoyable experience!

Young Shiraz Bush Vines: common practice in hot, dry regions such as the Southern Rhone and Barossa Valley in order to provide shade to hanging grapes

Crusher and Pneumatic Press: uses compressed air to achieve a gentle pressing of grapes. Also called a 'Bag Press' or 'Bladder Press' because of the rubber bag inflated by compressed air

Old school basket pressed, not in use anymore

New school presses, all automated and Scott is a BIG fan!

Fermentation Vats: must and skins kept in contact to facilitate color extraction

Barrel maturation

Bottling line

Blurring but I had to...this is Bill with an insanely large bottle of Descendant! I doubt that fits on the bottling line :)

Henschke...

I was very fortunate to get a personal tour of Henschke Cellars. I met with Winemaker Paul Hampton who took me straight to the cellar for a barrel tasting. It was very unexpected and I didn’t really know what I was tasting for?! I have never tasted unbottled/unfinished wine and it tasted very young and green for lack of better words. The barrels had just finished malolactic fermentation and were being assessed for quality. Paul tried explaining all the different young flavors that we were looking for, the different ages of the barrels and the different coopers used but it was a lot of information at once and I just appreciate his effort to teach an amateur. He gave me a tour of the winery and we ran into Steve Henschke and his loyal Dachshund. We chatted for a bit and, as a bonus, Paul drove me to Hill of Grace, Henschke's most notable vineyard and one of the most famous in Australia! I am really glad I got to meet Paul Hampton. He is extremely knowledgeable, friendly and very informative.

Side note: I like to ask professionals how they chose their profession because I am currently in the process of choosing/defining mine. Paul gave a surprisingly unique answer. He didn’t go to college but became a successful banker and did so for ten years. Then one day realized it was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He realized he was interested in becoming a chef or winemaker. His deciding factor, he didn’t want to come home every night smelling like fish so he chose winemaker. I really loved his blunt yet amusing honesty. Thanks Paul!

Barrel tasting with Paul

Henschke's Laboratory 

Hill of Grace...don't mind if I do! Retails around $450 per bottle. I'm not that big of a deal...I just lucked out! It was opened for some visiting Master Sommeliers and I was in the right place at the right time :)

New bottling line: cost a small fortune but now includes Henschke's new Vino-Lok closure system. It create an airtight seal that prevents oxidation and TCA contamination. 

Vino-Lok test bottles

Hill of Grace!

150 year old Hill of Grace Shiraz vines. I think gnarly is a great descriptor for these!

This is what hail damage looks like

The Cellar Door Tasting Room spread [left to right]: 2011 Prue's Verjus, 2009 Tilly's Vineyard White Blend, 2009 Louis Semillon, 2009 Cranes Chardonnay, 2010 Coralinga Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, 2011 Julius Riesling, 2010 Joseph Hill Gewurztraminer

[left to right]: 2009 Giles Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2009 Henry's Seven, 2009 Johann's Garden, 2008 Keyneton Euphonium, 2008 Abbotts Prayer Vineyard, 2008 Tappa Pass Shiraz 

Peter Lehmann... 

I didn’t get a tour but I met with Chief Winemaker Andrew Wigan. He just got back from judging the Limestone Coast Wine Show and was busy tasting the different 2012 vintage bottlings with the other winemakers but I was lucky to steal a few moments of his time. We discussed wine as a profession, future goals and his family’s love of wine. And I learned the interesting history of Peter Lehmann’s humble beginnings.

In 1978, there was a grape surplus throughout Australia. The multi-national company that owned Saltram Winery, where Peter Lehmann was winemaker/manager at the time, informed Peter that they would not buy any fruit from the independent Barossa growers. These were vignerons whom he had known all his life and with whom he had built up a close relationship.

Driven by his faith in the quality of wine the Barossa produces, and his refusal to accept that these growers were to be ruined, he persuaded friends and family to invest in an outside company he formed in order to buy the grapes and process them into fine wine.

It was an enormous financial gamble, but he knew the odds were stacked in his favor. He had the support of loyal winemaking and cellar staff, who are still with him today, and above all the quality of the fruit grown in the Barossa.

As a Roseworthy trained winemaker, Andrew joined the Peter Lehmann winemaking team at Saltram in 1976, a decision he describes as “the best he ever made.” Andrew was a key member of the team, which conceived and created their flagship wine, Stonewell Shiraz in 1987. As well as the unique Barossa Semillon, an unoaked style, which has become Australia’s largest selling Semillon. The Wigan Riesling was named after Andrew, who has been involved in the making of every Riesling bottle since the beginning of Peter Lehmann.

Andrew's children have followed closely in his footsteps. Both his son and daughter work for Yalumba just down the road; is son as a winemaker and his daughter works in their Marketing Department. He encouraged his children to pursue other professions but it isn't difficult to be captivated, even potentially influenced, by his passion and excitement for winemaking. 

Unfortunately, I did not take any photos because I was too absorbed in our conversation and I didn’t want to waste the limited time we had together. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Andrew Wigan. He was tremendously generous with his time, knowledge and advice. I most definitely plan to meet with him again when I revisit the Barossa. He has invited me back to taste the new vintage upon release and I would never pass that up! I will remember to take photos this time :)

Meet Mr. Andrew Wigan!

Penfolds...  

And the list would not be complete without Penfolds but I will give you more in-depth information while I work for them this upcoming vintage. Yup, you heard it right! I start February 1st and will be living in the Barossa Valley for 3-4 months. And no, I do not know if I get any discounts on their wines :) I'll keep you posted of course!   

The collection I will learn to make!!!