I spent a couple of great days in the Barossa before Christmas, the perfect way to end a hectic year. We stayed at the beautifully sited Stonewell Cottages overlooking a lake just out of Tanunda, accommodation I recommend to anyone visiting although there are numerous other excellent cottages throughout the valley also worthy of a look.
I had been in contact with several makers prior to visiting and all were most accommodating and generous with their time for which I’m indebted knowing how busy they always are, particularly these small makers.
One of the common threads I find with all of the best winemakers is a passion for what’s happening in the vineyard. This is where smaller can be better, where family owned set ups control the process from start to finish with a passion hard to duplicate where several layers of management or long lines of communication are in place.
Tuesday afternoon we visited Troy Kalleske out past the small township of Greenock. Troy saw us immediately after waving off another group of visitors from interstate, once you saw his operation it made you realise that his new found fame was a sudden imposition on his hectic life. He’s built his winery in a large converted implement shed, similar to several I’d seen before and one I’d see again surprisingly quickly. This is the type of scene that produces Australia’s most interesting, and I think best, wines.
Opened for our assessment was a range of wines that I’ll briefly comment on. I’d never heard of Kalleske until mid last year when I tried the 2002 Greenock Shiraz and 2002 Old Vine Grenache at a blind Auswine panel tasting and loved them both, unfortunately for me, they were about to be discovered by a lot of other people here in Australia via James Halliday and in the US via Robert Parker Jnr and became hard to come by. Still, that’s life in a global marketplace.
The 2003 versions of the Kalleske wines are just as good as the two wines from the much vaunted 2002 vintage. I’ve noticed before that the smaller hands on operations seem to have less vintage variation than applies to the larger general producers. Here at Kalleske there seemed to be no let down from the peak of 2002 and apparently 2004 is on the same plane at this stage.
The two 2003 Red Nectar wines were also impressive. Made from a cousins vineyard, coincidentally just a stones throw from my cottage at Stonewell, the Shiraz was very good but it was the Cabernet that really caught my attention, a wine of power and structure displaying real fruit concentration. I’m not sure of the availability of these wines.
The 2003 Johann Georg Shiraz is simply stunning, no more needs to be said except I believe bottles will be very hard to come by. These 2003s are an endorsement of Kalleske’s viticultural prowess, Troy’s winemaking skill and the status of the 2003 vintage from the better makers, don’t fall into the trap of vintage generalisation often pushed by the scribes.
Wednesday saw us visit Torbreck to unfortunately find them about to start the staff Christmas party. The wines lined up looked like making it a great day and late evening!
We then headed for an appointment at Glaymond, a tiny producer in the same “Golden Triangle” area of the northwest Barossa. Déjàvu, another converted implement shed, another passionate viticulturalist, another meticulous winemaker, another set of great wines.
A label that despite the high quality of its wines would probably have taken time to get established locally, it was given that vital injection by immediate export success for its tiny production in the US. I’d stumbled onto the Glaymond label by chance and was impressed with the wines from both the 2002 vintage and the recently bottled 2003 wines. Across the range and across both vintages they have a dense core of fruit, real power and lovely balance that I like, without being hot or jammy. This was the Kalleske experience again, the 2003s seemingly just as good as the 2002s. Micro management of well sited vineyards proving the key. Damien Tscharke is a one man band looking after the viticulture and winemaking in a real micro managed sense.
He’s a qualified viticulturalist and passionate about sites, crop management, clonal selection and new varieties. Look out for a straight Tempranillo, Grenache and Zinfandel in future.
We purchased wines from across the range and over Xmas week gave them a fair hammering just to be sure – we were sure!
A refresh with the wines occurred a week later when I sat in on an Auswine tasting panel where Gavin was assessing the 2002s prior to stocking them. I’ve never seen a small group of diverse palates so in agreement about a range of wines. I’m going against RP Jnr and picking the Cabernet and straight Shiraz as my most preferred although all four wines tried are excellent. Gavin now has a limited amount available I believe, don't hesitate, do yourself a favour.
Kaesler was our next stop where we met Reid Bosward. Any man who calls one of his wines “The Bogan” just has to be worth meeting – he was! However we couldn’t convince him he needed “The Mullet” in his range as well! In true mullet tradition, it would be a golden coloured Semillon wouldn’t it?
Kaesler has been high on my purchasing in recent years and continues its upward climb in quality, again attention to the viticulture in individual vineyards is one of the foundations of their stunning line up. Despite the amount of fruit they cram into each bottle, they are always balanced with good feel in the mouth. Their 2002 Cabernet is one of the excellent examples from this year in the Barossa and their Grenaches are also excellent examples of what this variety can produce.
My partner is a big Chardonnay fan and has a wide taste in this variety. I know you’ll be asking how I got caught up with a white drinker but she also loves powerful reds as well so she’s ok! Being Victorian herself, Barossa Chardonnay isn’t something she’d thought much about, but the 2002 version at Kaesler is a belter according to her, I abstained of course!
A quick look at a couple of 2003s showed less opulent juicy fruit than the 2002s but in a way they looked better for it. The 2003 The Bogan whilst restrained at cellar door looked excellent after 48hours and 500km of travel in a half full bottle. A sign of a very good wine, it took the air and battering in its stride to reveal lovely fruit and balance.
Reid showed us through the 2004 wine he’s got in barrel, right from material that will form the basis of the excellent value Stonehorse wines through to the ethereal nectar from the Old Bastard vineyard. Even at this juncture, across the board you can tell this is another great vintage in the making at Kaesler, the fruit power and purity was excellent and Reid was already thinking well ahead about individual barrels final destination.
A quick dash to Rockford Stonewall cellar confirmed my opinion of their 2002s, top Basket Press Shiraz that will sit with the best of it’s predecessors in a decade, a period that this line needs IMO. The 2002 Rifle Range Cabernet I’ve said a lot about on this forum previously and again I loved it. So many Barossa Cabernets from 2002 look great.
We finished off the day with an excellent steak then retired to do gourmet nibbles at the cottage accompanied by a 2003 Kalleske Shiraz and a 2002 Glaymond Cabernet.
Thursday morning saw us taking a dawn hot air balloon flight with Balloon Adventures. This was a fantasatic experience that I can really recommend to any visitor to the Barossa. The only drawback was the before dawn start but the operators are highly professional and entertaining as well. You get to assist in both the deploying and recovery of the balloon which added to the overall experience.
Life doesn’t come much better than this and pleasingly you don’t have to be rich to enjoy it. Must get back there again soon!
Barossa visit notes
Barossa visit notes
Cheers - Steve
If you can see through it, it's not worth drinking!
If you can see through it, it's not worth drinking!
Re: Barossa visit notes
707 wrote:The two 2003 Red Nectar wines were also impressive. Made from a cousins vineyard, coincidentally just a stones throw from my cottage at Stonewell, the Shiraz was very good but it was the Cabernet that really caught my attention, a wine of power and structure displaying real fruit concentration. IÂ’m not sure of the availability of these wines.
Steve
Thanks for the info on the Red Nectar. I have ordered some of the 2004 Shiraz & Cabernet to be released in the middle of the year. Did you get a chance to try the 2004? I'm sure it will be fine. Always use it for gifts if it's not.
Graham
Chardonnay: A drink you have when there is no RED wine, the beer hasn't arrived and the water may be polluted
Graham, no didn't try the 04 Red Nectars but the 03 Red Nectars were impressive wines so can't imagine the 04s being any lesser, you'll love them I'm sure to the detriment of the receivers of your gifts.
About half a dozen winemakers I know in the Barossa have now told me they're very happy with how the 04s look and I've done barrels at a couple of wineries recently and they're bloody good.
About half a dozen winemakers I know in the Barossa have now told me they're very happy with how the 04s look and I've done barrels at a couple of wineries recently and they're bloody good.
Cheers - Steve
If you can see through it, it's not worth drinking!
If you can see through it, it's not worth drinking!
Red Ned wrote:Does anyone know if the Red Nectar and Glaymond wines are available in Sydney?
Thanks
I imagine that any RedNectar wine you find would have been on special consignment to specialist stores. The 2004 Red Nectar will not be available til May/June.
Production is small (02 Shiraz 33 cases) and for the 04 Shiraz 285 cases and the Cabernet is 330 cases.
Check the website and ask if there is any left.
www.rednectar.com.au
Graham
Chardonnay: A drink you have when there is no RED wine, the beer hasn't arrived and the water may be polluted
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Andrew Jordan
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Red Ned