Hayes Family Wines - The Joys of Barossa Valley Grenache
Tasting Barossa Grenache
Barossa Grenache
Barossa Grenache is truly the underappreciated, if not undiscovered jewel in the crown of the Barossa. Grenache, along with Shiraz and Mataro (aka Mourvèdre) were the founding red grape varieties of the Barossa Valley wine industry. For such a long period, the Grenache has been the work horse of the Valley - the foundation variety for our world renowned fortifieds, the chief victim of the Government sponsored vine pull of the 1980’s, the key variety in the rebirth of dry reds, the GSMs, before being overrun by Shiraz once more led by demand from our global export markets.
But it is rising again! It’s versatility, transparency, openness and lightness, which were it’s greatest challenges in the 2000s, have once again become its greatest assets. Grenache as a varietal is in great demand once more.
We at Hayes Family Wines are doing our bit. Yes, we make a lot of Grenache! And that Grenache is shared and enjoyed across the country. But I decided that we should share our love of Grenache in print, and have been working with Steve Leszczynski of QWine fame to write a book on Barossa Grenache. But to write a book on wine we needed to sample a few and the Barossa Winemakers supported the cause. More than 15 winemakers turned up to taste more than 130 Grenache based wines. Tough job, but it had to be done!
The Months Ahead
We hope to have the book completed in time for a November release. You will be the first to be invited to purchase what we expect will be a wonderful read.