The Barossa Valley
The Barossa is unlike any other wine region in the world. With 150 years of tradition and culture, fuelled by centuries of European experience it is not a New World wine region in the mode of Chile, South Africa or United States. Australian energy and innovation, free of Old World restrictions has enabled it to chart a unique identity.
The Barossa is comprised of the Barossa Valley and the Eden Valley, with the Barossa Ranges bridging the two. While the entire Barossa region is renowned for its luscious Shiraz, the Barossa and, in particular, Eden Valley's cooler climate produces what is regarded as some of the best Rieslings in Australia. Other varieties prosper here as well. Heavenly Grenache, beautifully structured Cabernet Sauvignon and Mataro all produce distinctive Barossa wines while, in whites, there is Semillon and Chardonnay.
The Barossa is also home to some of the oldest productive Shiraz and Grenache vines in the world. Shiraz has pride of place because this is the birthplace of some of the worlds most awarded big red wines.
Not to be forgotten is the huge range of quality gourmet food with its unique flavours. Like the Barossa’s wine it’s food is steeped in old world European traditions. Tasty German sausages and wursts, full flavour cheeses, freshly baked breads, fruit and vegetables that share the same fertile soils and climate of its more famous friend, the wine grape. These are some of the basics that have dominated the plates of Barossa Valley residents for over 150 years.
The wealth of the English gentry sponsored the development of a commercial wine industry in the 1850's and 1860's but the real growth took place from the 1880's onwards. Entrepreneurial English and Lutheran settlers built wineries and commenced selling their wines to the vast market place of wine consumers in London through their imperial connections. The Barossa wine industry developed along a different route from the traditional European practice of grower-winemakers. Although some growers did make wine for their own use, the majority sold grapes to the established wineries.