Vintage is now complete and as was the case in most Australian regions, yield was incredibly low. The wine that fared the best in this area is the old bush vine Barossa Grenache. The age of these vines, and the fact that they have only ever been watered from the sky, means they are seasoned to the harsh elements.
Though the yields are down… the quality looks very good. The reds have great intensity and balance.
I have always loved making and drinking Grenache. It’s been fantastic to see the popularity of the variety return, and some great medals and wine show awards have gone to Grenache of late. It is a very approachable drink and is suited to many styles of cuisine. The variety is honest, rustic and incredibly interesting. The style I like to make is quite fruit driven, not overripe, but full of the savoury, earthy tones that old vine bush vines can achieve. My grenache is dry grown and planted in sandy soils in the Vine Vale region of Barossa Valley.
My home now is Watervale which is known in the Clare Valley as “The home of Riesling”. I have been making Clare Valley Riesling for 15 years and I love the purity and intensity of the variety. It is an unforgiving grape and can be easily mishandled and show faults, but when you get everything right in the vineyard and carefully look after it in the winery it shows incredible power and flavour and expresses?? the regionality of the variety better than any other grape. The delicious citrus and lemon butter flavours with balancing minerality makes for a versatile food wine or a delicious aperitif.
Family. My grandparents Mary and Rufus Heidenreich owned a farm on Rocky Valley Road Angaston, near Menglers Hill. My father was one of seven children. He and his siblings attended Vine Vale School. At one stage there were only 10 students attending, 7 of them being my dad and his brothers and sisters. When we were young we had great family gatherings. As children we “helped” handpick fruit during harvest season. There were 19 grandchildren, which should have been a handy picking gang, but we used to muck around? and goof off a lot, and most of the effective picking was done by the older generation. We were a very close family and had wonderful gatherings with some amazing German influenced cooking. Our Grandmother Mary made us promise before she died that we would all stick together and stay close, which we have, and have regular “Heidenreich” family reunions, which have been huge!
