Barossa Valley is located in South Australia 56 km northeast from Adelaide. Today it is the main and most popular winemaking region in Australia; you can easily call it the Australia’s Napa Valley. Lots of old and large Australian wineries such as Penfolds, Peter Lehmann, Orlando Wines, Seppeltsfield, Wolf Blass and Yalumba, have either their holdings or even their headquarters here. The hot continental climate of the region makes the grapes rich and ripe, with high levels of sugar and therefore the region was initially famed for its fortified wines and later for its red wines. The region also hosts its own Barossa Valley Vintage Festival every two years, a huge celebration that praises the success of local winemakers.
One of the key differences from other winemaking regions in Australia is Barossa’s Valley history. Unlike most of the regions populated by British colonists it was populated by Prussian refugees who fled Europe in mid 19th century. Due to the cooler climate of their home region (which is a part of modern Poland) they had little knowledge of winemaking, but were skilled farmers. After trying to plant different cultures they found out that the valley was perfect for viticulture and started establishing vineyards (some of which are still there by the way). At first they started making the Riesling wine, a German type of wine, which due to the nature of the region was ripe and alcoholic. This start established the first vector for the Valley – the production of fortified wines. Eventually these wines earned the first praise for Barossa Valley winemakers.
Nevertheless the development of fortified wine production required red grapes and the region became widely associated with such grape as Shriaz. Things were going well until the mid-20th century, when the whole wine trend moved away from fortified wine towards more sophisticated red table wines (made from Cabernet Sauvignon). The main potential and power of Barossa Valley became its main weakness and interest towards the wines from this region was lost. But like it’s said – good things come to those who wait!
Around the 1980th the interest toward wines produced from old grape vines began to rise and surprisingly Barossa Valley with it up to 150 year old wines had a lot to offer. Local Shriaz finally got its praise for its deep and rich taste and the region suddenly became the leader of Australian winemaking. Just like in many other industries a refocus from the trend led to a rediscovery of the region’s potential and even despite few bad decades, the region is considered to be quintessential Australian wine region today.
While it is most famous for its signature grape variety of Shiraz, Barossa Valley also grows other grapes like Riesling, Semillon, Chardonnay, Grenache, Mourvedre and Cabernet Sauvignon. Today the region is focused on producing red wines, but white wine is also produced here and of course a number of traditional fortified wines are still produced in the area, just waiting for their time to get into the spotlight once again.
