2015 The Bachelor Shiraz

Italian Varietal Wine Awards Trophy – Best Red Wine – The Mob 2015 Montepulciano
Italian Varietal Wine Awards Trophy – Chief Judges award for ‘Most Exciting Wine’ – The Mob 2015 Montepulciano
Italian Varietal Wine Awards Trophy – Australian Italian Varieties Wine Awards Champion 2016 – The Mob 2015 Montepulciano
Wine Of The year Montepulciano – 2017 Melbourne International Wine Competition  – The Mob 2015 Montepulciano
With this exclusive single vineyard you are getting a rare limited edition wine (only 200 dozen bottles made).

This extravagant wine comes with a dramatic story... In its first year, a group of sheep, affectionately named “The Mob”, squeezed through a hole in the vineyard fence. It was a tragedy for the vines, and almost proved to be fatal for this tiny patch of the estate. They ravished the whole plot! But all was not lost. Three years later and the first crop of grapes to be delivered from these tough young vines are second to none. That’s the beauty of growing on ironstone and red clay.

Deeply coloured, as we all love our Barossa reds to be, the Atze’s take on this style is full of dark cherries and blackberries supported by a spine of fine, savoury tannins.  Its richness and juicy-fruit is clearly Barossa but there’s more than a nod, in the savoury, food-friendly style to Italy.

It's a real crowd pleaser and it has a history of numerous awards to back up its world class pedigree.

Forgotten Hero is sourced from a stunning vineyard planted by the Atze family in 1951; a survivor of the infamous vine pull scheme of the 1980s. John and Barb Kalleske rescued the old vineyard in 1983 and have nurtured its vines ever since.

Limited bottles remaining for sale.

Forgotten Heroes three decades ago, these low yielding vines now provide intensely flavoured grapes for this classic Barossa Shiraz. Intuitive, small-batch winemaking, a minimum 20 months maturation in new French oak barrels, coupled with it only being bottled from the most outstanding vintages, results in a truly distinguished, complex and full-bodied wine.

Due to the tiny size of this vineyard and the low yields, less than 70 cases are bottled in any one vintage.

A rare treat, not to be missed.

The 2010 Eddies sold out in 3 months. This 2012 vintage will give it a run for it’s money and won’t last long! Only 100 cases produced. And we’ve found a few in the back of the winery. Limited stock remaining.

Named in honour of the two Barossans who planted a vineyard in 1912, The Eddies Old Vine Shiraz celebrates the Barossa’s irreplaceable treasure-trove of old vineyards.  Combining the fruit from a pre-Gallipoli vineyard, planted in 1912, with fruit from a 59 year old vineyard Andy Kalleske has captured the essence of these ancient vines which his parents, Barb and John have been nurturing for forty years. 2010 is universally recognised as an amazing Barossa Shiraz vintage and my view is that this is one which you should have in your cellar; we haven’t seen a vintage this good for a long, long while.

Tasting Note By Phil Reedman MW

The Barossa Valley is unique resource of old vines; circumstances have conspired to see vines of an age found in few other places.  Old vines, though unproductive in terms of quantity offer grapes of unrivalled intensity of flavour.

Happy one hundredth birthday!  In 1912 Eddie Liebig and Eddie Staehr planted a Shiraz vineyard which forms the basis of this wine.  The balance is made up of some senior-citizen vines which the Kalleske family have tended since 1975.  You’re drinking history with this wine.  Fittingly only 100 dozen bottles were produced.

2012 vintage rates right up there; an ideal growing season gave winemakers just the grapes they wanted. Andy Kalleske has done justice to those grapes producing a sumptuous bottle of wine.  Opaque ruby colour, with a coal tar and sweet spice aroma. The palate is silkily smooth and seriously full-bodied; the fruit concentrated and bright.  Classic Shiraz fruits of spicy dark damson and  blueberries are layered against fine, integrated oak.  At this stage I’d really prefer to keep it in the cellar for another five years to let that fruit mature and develop into something approaching its full complexity. It will keep for fifteen or twenty years such is its finesse and balance. A very special bottle of Barossa wine.

Vineyard #1

Planted – 1912 by Eddie Staehr and Eddie Leibich for the Atze Family
Orientation – East/West
Vine/Row Dimensions – 3 x 3 metres
Soil – 25cm of Sandy loam over deep red clay
2012 Yield – 1 tonne per acre

Vineyard #2
Planted – 1951 by the Atze Family
Orientation – North/South
Vine/Row Dimensions – 2 x 3.4 metres
Soil – 40cm of brown loam over red clay
2012 Yield – 1.2 tonne per acre

Vineyard #3

Planted – 1975 Planted by John and Barb Kalleske
Orientation – North/South
Vine/Row Dimensions – 2 x 3.4 metres
Soil – 30cm of brown loam over red clay
2012 Yield – 1.5 tonne per acre

Winemaking

Open Fermented – Hand Pump-Overs –Basket pressed –
Maturation – 22 Months in 25% new and 25% old French and 25% new and 25% old American Oak Hogshead barrels
Cases produced – 100 Alcohol 15.5%

Optimal Serving.

• Serve at 16 degrees Celcius for optimal flavour
• Quickly decant to clarify the wine before enjoying.