Why is Barossa Shiraz so Special?

The Barossa is famous for its red wine and it is in this region where Shiraz reigns supreme. Large proportions of Barossa Shiraz is used in Penfolds Grange (Australia’s most famous wine). Henschke Hill of Grace also uses Barossa Shiraz for their wine.

The famous Barossa wine region is a little over an hour by car north of Adelaide, South Australia’s capital. Something that surprises many people is that the Barossa actually encompasses two 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. The red-brown soils are more fertile than those of the Eden Valley but rainfall here can be up to 50% less.  The temperatures in the Barossa are usually 2ºC warmer than the surrounding regions.

Eden Valley includes the country from Truro in the north through to Mount Pleasant in the south. This region averages for 400 to 600 metres abouve sea level with the wine growing areas being situated in the higher sections of land. Eden Valley has much rockier, acidic soil than the Barossa Valley and also enjoys about 255mm more rainfall every year. The cooler temperatures in this region means that growing seasons are generally longer.

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.
A unique aspect about the Barossa is that it has managed to avoid phylloxera This means that many vineyards still thrive on their own root stocks, distinguishing the Barosssa as a wine-growing region with some of the world’s oldest vines.

The Barossa rings true to the idea of quality over quantity with the fruit produced there being the premium of Australian produce, but representing only 5% of the national crush. 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.

No wonder Barossa Shiraz is revered around the world.

Follow the link for more information on Barossa Shiraz .