Peter Lehmann Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz 2019
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Peter Lehmann Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz
Peter Lehmann, was a member of the Order of Australia and the original Baron of the Barossa, was a legend of Australian wine. He helped shape the industry over seven decades. Behind the legend was a never-say-die attitude, a sharp wit and an intrinsic gift for winemaking.
Peter Lehmann, with 33 vintages already ‘under his belt‘, started his own winery in 1979, partly as a means of helping with the glut of grapes then afflicting the Barossa. “I’ll take your grapes and turn them into wine,” he told the desperate growers, many of them conservative farmers of Silesian descent who regarded their old vines as part of their patrimony. “But I’ll only be able to pay you when I sell the wine.” They gratefully accepted. Without this deal, it is widely thought that the Barossa would have lost a large swathe of its old vines. The crisis passed, in large part thanks to Peter’s energy and vision, and the Lehmann winery became one of the Barossa’s – and Australia’s – outstanding wineries.
Passion still exists in the winery today, despite the fact that Peter died in 2014 and sold most of the business to Donald Hess a decade ago. He sold to Hess, his American distributor, because he recognised someone who shared his philosophy and would ensure that the winery didn’t become a ‘brand’ in a corporate portfolio run by number crunchers in Sydney. His foresight ensured that the quality of the Peter Lehmann wines has never wavered.