Grenache Barossa Valley 2021 – Peter Lehmann The Barossan

The grapes to produce the Grenache Barossa Valley Peter Lehmann The Barossan were fermented on skins for ten days in open fermenters, with 5% kept as whole bunches. This portion was foot stomped by the winemaking team in stainless steel bins. The blend was aged in older French oak for 15 months prior to bottling, with a combination of 300 litre oak hogsheads and 500 litre puncheons.

Fruit for this wine was sourced from premium Grenache vineyards on the Barosssa Valley floor, ranging from young vines to cenetarian vines. Some of the strongest, old bush vine parcels are located in the north and west of the valley (Greenock, Moppa and Ebenezer districts), making up the backbone of the blend.

Peter Lehmann 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.

“The Barossan” range highlights the outstanding fruit sourced from the many fabled sub-regions across the Barossa Valley. A selection of the Barossa’s key growers,mrenowned for their quality and skill, have shared their passion and pristine fruit to create the “most quintessentially Barossan” Shiraz and Grenache. Each parcel speaks of the vineyard from which it comes, reflecting a unique aspect of its sub-region.