Barossa Valley Shiraz: a wine down to earth

Wine has been a way of life in the Barossa Valley since 1842.
Barossa Valley Shiraz is renowned and appreciated by wine experts, winning accolades around the globe, but the Barossa is much more than Shiraz.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Mataro (also known as Mourvedre) and Merlot are in plentiful supply and wine styles include the famous GSM Rhone style blends.

In recent years, Barossa Valley winemakers have successfully introduced new varieties to regional line-up. Viognier has become a Barossa speciality, both as a stand alone variety and, uniquely, blended with Shiraz. Other new varieties include Tempranillo, Zinfandel and Marsanne.

Barossa Valley Shiraz: the secret is in the ground

There are essentially two main soil types in the Barossa and both are regarded as being quite low in fertility: brown, loamy sandy to clay loam and sandy light-brownish grey to dark grey brown soils.

Further research is currently being undertaken to improve the knowledge about the soils which help to create Barossa wines of great character and distinction.

The Barossa Grounds project is an ongoing journey to investigate and articulate the diverse characteristics of the sub-regions or ‘parishes’ of the Barossa Valley and their influence on wine style, particularly Barossa Valley Shiraz.

The Barossa Grounds project began with an emerging realisation that for a world famous wine region with over 160 years of continuous winemaking – and a repository of some of the oldest vines in the world – there was an apparent deficiency in authoritative data about landscapes, soil types, meso-climates, and the impact of these factors on wines.

The process of defining the ‘grounds’ began in 2008 with annual tastings from 80 sites around the Barossa, to systematically understand and describe the diversity of flavours of Barossa Valley Shiraz.

This report not only demonstrates the amazing complexity of influences on Barossa Valley Shiraz, it also provides a scientific record of the information that previously only existed in growers’ and winemakers’ heads for six generations of Barossa grape growing and winemaking.

Credits: Barossa Grape & Wine Association, barossa.com.