If Australian wine has Brandenburg roots, there must be a special family history behind it. in 1888, the Glaetzers landed in Adelaide to settle in the nearby Barossa Valley.
Today's Glaetzer Wines estate was founded over 100 years later by Colin Glaetzer, his wife Judith and his three sons - driven by the vision of producing limited quantities of high-quality red wine under a family label. The first vintage was launched in 1996. Today, son Ben is continuing the tradition.
The grapes for wines in the deliberately small Glaetzer collection come from the Ebenezer sub-region in the northern Barossa Valley. The high-quality material grows on 80 to 110-year-old, ungrafted and extremely low-yielding bush vines, which are predominantly planted on sandy loam soil. Only some of the newer plantings are irrigated. "The very old vines require only minimal attention. Thanks to their deep root structure, they are self-sufficient and can adapt to climatic extremes."
Ben Glaetzer's aim in vinification is to "express the natural flavours." This also includes longer maceration for more "softness, palate structure and tannin development." After pressing, natural acid reduction (malolactic fermentation) takes place in American barriques. Further maturation takes 12 to 18 months. Single-varietal Shiraz and cuvées with Grenache or Cabernet Sauvignon are bottled. Ben describes his products as "wines with great depth of flavour that are elegant, complex and finely balanced."
© Photos: Glaetzer Wines
