Shiraz “Lionheart of the Barossa” 2021 – Dandelion Vineyards

To produce the Shiraz “Lionheart of the Barossa” Dandelion Vineyards the whole bunches were hand harvested, gently crushed and naturally fermented in open fermenters for eight days. The cap was hand plunged twice a day before the fruit was carefully pressed off the skins using a basket press into a mix of new and previously filled French oak barriques to finish fermentation. After 18 months’ maturation and racking in the same oak, the wine was bottled without filtration or fining, to capture the essence of the vines.

Named after Barossa’s lifelong champion of old vines, Carl Lindner, the grapes for this Shiraz come from Dandelion’s Kinkora vineyard, in Seppeltsfield Road, Tanunda, approximately 75 kilometres north east of Adelaide. The vines here range in age from 35 to 108 years old, many planted on their original rootstock. Throughout their vineyards they encourage the humble dandelion among the vines as they suppress winter weeds and provide mulch in summer.

Dandelion Vineyards is the venture of self-titled ‘typist’ Zar Brooks and his winemaking wife Elena, with wines made from the Barossa and Eden Valleys, Fleurieu, the Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale. Nick Stock, one of Australia’s leading journalists, has described Dandelion as follows: “Brooks has teamed up with his winemaking wife Elena, a woman whose talents are outweighed only by her tolerance, in an exciting new venture called Dandelion Vineyards. The approach is remarkably simple and sees Elena making wine from a suite of beautiful old vineyards across that blessed curve that runs from the Barossa, up through the Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills and down into McLaren Vale.”