The hallowed grounds of winemaking, The Barossa, is internationally renown for its great red wines and primarily its Shiraz. Shiraz from the Barossa is used in the production of Penfolds Grange, Australia’s most famous wine. Henschke Hill of Grace, another high profile Australian wine, also uses Barossa Shiraz in its production.
The famous Barossa wine region is a little over an hour by car north of Adelaide, South Australia’s capital. The Barossa is made up of two different regions – the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley.
Stretching all the way from Williamstown in the South all the way up to Kapunda in the north, the Barossa Vally covers quite a sizable area of land. Although the Barossa Valley has abundant amounts of fertile red-brown soil, it actually received around 50% less rainfall than the neighboring Eden Valley. Temperatures are generally about 2ºC warmer.
The Eden Valley region starts from the north at Truro and goes all the way south, down to Mount Pleasant. It ranges between 400 metres and 600 metres above sea-level with most of the winegrowing country located in the higher, cooler, wetter sections of the region. Eden Valley has much rockier, acidic soil than the Barossa Valley and also enjoys about 255mm more rainfall every year. Growing seasons in this region are longer due to the cooler temperatures.
So how does this affect the wine from these regions? Well to put it simply, these are great growing conditions.
There are about 550 growers in the Barossa, some of them sixth-generation Barossans. The total harvest each season adds up to a whopping 55,000 tonnes of grapes which has been grown over 8,000 hectares of land.
The Barossa has remained phylloxera free since growing first started here. By avoiding phylloxera this has allowed growers to keep their root stocks and have some of the oldest vines in the world today.
While the Barossa’s 55,000 tonnes represents only about 5% of the national crush, it is premium fruit. The constant premium quality of wines produced in the Barossa makes them Australia’s most internationally influential regions with a large number of Barossa wines being categorized in the super-premium class.
Its easy to see why Barossa Shiraz is held in high regard amongst wine connoisseurs.
Follow the link for more information on Premium Barossa Shiraz .
