Penfolds

After the success of early sherries and fortified wines, founders Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold planted their vine cuttings they had carried on their voyage over to Australia. In 1844 the vineyard was officially established as the Penfolds wine company at Magill Estates. By the time Mary Penfold retired in 1884 Penfolds was producing 1/3 of all South Australia's wine. By 1907, Penfolds had become South Australia's largest winery. Max Schubert the company’s first Chief Winemaker boosted Penfolds onto the global stage with the creation of Penfolds Grange in the 1950s. In 1959 the tradition of ‘bin wines’ began named after the storage area of the cellars where it is aged. Kalimna Bin 28 becomes the first official Penfolds Bin number wine. The Kalimna Block 42 vines are thought to be the oldest continuously-producing Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world.  In 1988 Schubert was named Decanter Magazine’s Man of the Year, and on the 50th anniversary of its birth, Penfolds Grange was given a heritage listing in South Australia. 

Yalumba

Established in 1849 and family owned, six generations have followed the sustainable viticulture and winemaking development of Fred Caley Smith. The winery has won 43 accolades for their sustainable practices over the years, including the International Award of Excellence for Sustainable Wine Growing. The Yalumba Cooperage also continues the tradition of crafting oak barrels on premises one of the few in the Southern Hemisphere. The Wine Room was once Yalumba’s brandy bond store and captures the spirit and heritage of our winery. The blending of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz is a distinctly Australian winemaking practice, producing striking reds that cannot be replicated in France, Germany or Italy due to strict controls around regional blending. Since the 1800s Yalumba has been a  dedicated pioneers of this method creating vintages since 1961.

Jacob's Creek

Jacob’s Creek began when Johann Gramp planted his first vineyard on the banks of Jacob’s Creek in 1846.  Gramp’s original winery and cellar still stands, as does the restored stone cottage of the Jacob brothers, who first settled by the creek they named after themselves in 1842.

Chateau Tanunda

Constructed in 1890, Chateau Tanunda was the biggest winery in the southern hemisphere and the biggest building in South Australia. It housed the first cooperage in the Barossa and its own railway station. The Chateau was built on the idea of pooling the grapes of 560 Barossa growers and shipping the wine to Europe, where phylloxera in the 1870s devastated the wine industry.  In 1994, in recognition of its rich history, Château Tanunda was placed on the Register of State Heritage Places.  Highlight cuvees include The signature 150 Year Old Vines 1858 Field Blend, 100 Year Old Vines Shiraz, The Everest Old Vine Grenache, and The Everest Shiraz. 

Australia’s unique climate and landscape is home to 100 grape varieties grown across 65 wine regions.  Shiraz is one of Australia’s most established and appreciated varieties and represents nearly half of planted red grapes and a quarter of total wine production.

The best quality Shiraz is found in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, home to some of the planet’s oldest vines dating back to 1860. Shiraz is one of the original varieties brought to Australia in the 1820s. Thanks to sandy soils and early quarantine, the region never suffered from the Phylloxera, which wiped out most of the vines around the world at the end of the 19th century. The result was that Barossa has some of the world’s oldest ungrafted, pre‑phylloxera plantings of Shiraz dating back 150 years.

Other varieties grown in the Barossa Valley include Grenache, varietal rising in popularity, Mourvedre (Mataro), Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay and Semillon.  One of Australia’s most famous blended wines, “GSM,” combines the aromatics of Grenache, the fruit (red berries, floral, mint and spice notes) and velvety texture and dark red fruit and olive notes of Shiraz, and the spice, length and power of Mourvèdre.  Also important are classic Shiraz-Cabernet blends, full-bodied, richly textured wines with black fruit, pepper, herb and spice notes, which age well.

History

Australians have been drinking sparkling wine since 1881. The ‘Victorian Champagne Company made one of the first examples of Australian sparkling Shiraz the predominant sparkling red.  Winemaker Edmund Mazure was among the first vignerons in South Australia to make sparkling wine (methode champenoise) on a large scale in 1896.  In the mid 1950s Colin Gramp saw the success of Perlwein in Germany, and decided to try it in Australia and created ‘Barossa Pearl’, a light warm-climate sparkling made from Eden Valley Riesling, Semillon and Muscat to popular success. 

Terroir

The Barossa has a dry, low humidity Mediterranean continental climate ideal for full-bodied reds and robust white wines. Temperatures vary from very warm in the valley get progressively cooler at higher altitudes. The hot climate of the Barossa Valley usually means that the grapes become ripe very easily with high levels of sugars and low levels of acids.  Some of the region's oldest vineyards practice dry land farming but the majority makes extensive use of irrigation to supplement the region's low rainfall supply. The increased water stress of the practice, coupled with the naturally reduced yields of old vines, tends to produce the most deeply concentrated grapes in the valley which often go into the Barossa Valley 's most expensive and sought after wines. Soils vary widely, from clay to sandy, and grey to red and brown.  The extensive use of oak is also a characteristic of Barossa Valley winemaking with American oak. The Barossa Zone circles the Barossa Valley and high altitude Eden Valley to the east known for Riesling.

Barossa Wine Adventures

Adelaide Hills Shiraz produces elegant, medium-bodied Shiraz, with fragrant pepper and spice, and fine tannins. Lower alcohol levels make this cool-climate style a food-friendly wine.  The luscious and green Adelaide Hills has some of the highest growing altitudes in the area has a cooler climate suited to a focus on white varietals, the primary grapes are Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc grape shows a typical herbaceousness, offset by bright tropical and exotic fruit notes, along with a textural softness that balances the variety’s natural acidity. On a multi day tour we will include a visit to this region or head a little further south to Mc Claren Vale to sample some 97 point Grenache and Shiraz.

Multi Region Journeys