The importance of being earnest.

This blog post was originally written for, and published on "Barossa Dirt - True tales and twisted vines" in September 2010.

ear·nest ² (ûrnst) n. 2. A token of something to come; a promise or an assurance.

The name ‘Barossa’ is quite well-known, and its adjacent GI, Eden Valley, despite having some rare, very old vineyards, could be considered one of the new kids on the block as far as global public recognition goes. But somewhere in between these amazingly beautiful, yet different GI’s is a secret sub-region. Despite a variable grape production since the 1860’s (starting with currants being grown), it is only in the very recent past that Flaxman’s Valley has begun to emerge publicly as the quiet, mysterious, yet stunning and very special wine-producing place that I have been fortunate enough to live in since 1985.

A special ridge exists in the northern part of Flaxman’s Valley. It stretches from Bob and Wilma McLean’s property on the northern tip (the McLean’s property was one of my ancestors original homesteads), to the southern tip where the famous Heggies and Pewsey Vale vineyards lie. This ridge is bordered by the Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park, with the Tanunda Creek weaving a well-worn path through properties and park alike as it heads to the west, down Menglers Hill to meet the Para River. In between these two tips are the miniscule settlements of Randall-Town and Argent-Town, aptly named after the families that settled there in the early 1900’s.

The Randall families planted vines and fruit trees on settlement. They worked the vineyards passionately for numerous decades. A kilometre to the south, the Argent families did the same thing. The old vines tended by the Randall families by hand, are now the grapes behind the Ringland Vintners, Hobbs Vintners and Karra Yerta Wines brands. Further to the south, the remaining Argent vineyard provides the bulk of the Flaxman Wines portfolio. Vineyards planted by my own ancestors existed on the (now) McLean’s property until the vine-pull scheme of the eighties (the previous owners pulled out the precious old vines). Bob and Wilma McLean have since replanted, thankfully.

The wines that are produced from this ridge are incredibly special, and as there is not a mains water supply at all in the area, even for housing, most of the vineyards are dry-grown aside from the very rare watering in major heat-waves by irrigation from small dams or bores. Irrigation is not a major part of the care-taking of these vineyards as the region itself has a very high rainfall average (around twenty-eight inches). Most of the vines are so old and deep-rooted that they seem to fare very well in the extremes of the South Australian summers. Not to forget that while the Barossa Valley floor sizzles, it is usually at least a few degrees cooler in the Barossa Ranges. On forty-five degrees celcius days, that can make a huge difference to survival of canopies, and subsequent grape protection from the elements.

But there are always exceptions to the rule of a hot, dry, Barossan summer. In January 2007 we had almost two inches of gentle rain which made for an exceptional vintage. Our 2007 Karra Yerta Riesling remains one of our best produced yet.

The wines from this ridge will continue to impress for many decades to come. I can assure you of that. Some of the special visitors that we get to the region also confirm it, but more about that in one of my next posts.

Cheers for now,

Marie Linke

Tiny URL for this post: http://tinyurl.com/28yc5gd

The Southerners head north for a day of Barossa hospitality

The beautiful spring weather disappeared last week when a brief burst of summer (and unfortunately the emergence of brown snakes in the area) hit us all unexpectedly. Suddenly, the red wines were discarded, and the rieslings brought out. One of my most pleasurable pastimes is to sit under my pergola, with the scent of petunias, jasmine and carnations delicately wafting toward me as I slowly sip a glass of cool, not cold, Eden Valley Riesling.

So in light of the fact that Saturday was in the mid-thirties, it was rather appropriate to indulge in that lovely drop whilst entertaining a delightful group of guests from the southern vales of our very fine wine producing state. The day started very early for our visitors and I'm almost certain that by the time they reached the high range of Randall Town, where the Karra Yerta vineyard is located, they were more than ready and willing to go for a trek down the hill for a quick tour of the vineyard before heading back down the hill to Argent Town for an informal tasting in our old red gum stable.

The host for the day, Philip White, had gathered together a tribe of his friends and fellow wine lovers to show them some of the secret gems of the area and Karra Yerta was most fortunate to be considered one of them. A more pleasant group of people would be hard to meet and it was really interesting to see their opinions on our regions style of wines, particularly the rieslings. We had a wonderful few hours with them, with our sons and one of their friends providing live music before the bus headed a little further north along the range. James and I were kindly invited to join the group for lunch and so we gathered yet more wine and headed off ourselves. Already a perfect day but it was about to get even better.

By the time we arrived, the rest of the group had already been greeted by the very hospitable Bob and Wilma McLean and were comfortably settling in to yet more tastings in the lovely McLean shed whilst the matter of one of Bob's famous Long Lunches was arranged. A six foot long mettwurst was definitely the highlight of the dinner table but the beautiful array of other local produce and salads did not fade too far away out of the limelight. A delightful lunch, including a birthday cake for Wilma (made by one of the guests and ever so carefully transported from the vales), was had by all and the wines served with it were sensational and made me exceptionally proud of our unique and beautiful area. To top it off, Colin Forbes (pictured at right), all round nice guy and rieslingmeister extraordinaire, hosted a vertical tasting of the McLeans Farm rieslings. Now that was something to behold!

Soon the bus headed off to the next stop, Greenock Creek, and the locals amongst us stayed to help the McLeans tidy up after what was surely one of the most enjoyable grass-roots wine experiences that could be had. Many thanks to Philip and his friends for being such wonderful guests for the day. I'm sure that it will be remembered fondly by all who attended, including us and the McLeans.

Eden Valley - the jewel in the Barossa's crown

Last night a meeting was held at Bucks Bistro in Springton to discuss the concept of starting up a new sub-group of the BWGA specifically for Eden Valley wine producers to help market and promote our beautiful regions fine wines. A more passionate group of people would rarely be seen and it was decided that there was definitely enough interest to proceed. Eden Valley has long been the hidden jewel in the Barossa's crown and is not really well known on the international front.

A separate GI to the Barossa, rieslings from the area have long dominated global competitions - the best example of this being Peter Lehmann's range of Eden rieslings which consistently rate amongst the best rieslings in the world.

It was wonderful to hear Louisa Rose speak of her opinions on the wines produced from our region and also see other prominent winemakers present. There is definitely a feeling that we do have something very special in our hands, and not just in regards to the rieslings produced. The Eden Valley Shirazes are also of an exceptionally high standard and some of the oldest and rarest shiraz vines in the country are from the region.

In the coming months there will be events showcasing the wines of Eden Valley and I will post information about these as they come to hand. Over the next week I will be placing a post in a wine diary format of these events, and others of significance to place on your calendar in case you are planning a trip to the Barossa.

For more information regarding Eden Valley and to see some of the wineries that are located there please go to this link: Wine Australia Eden Valley

Another riesling review for the week

It's been an amazing week for us so far. The last of the stock of our Silver Medal winning 2005 Barossa Shiraz was ordered this morning and next week will be heading over to the east coast of Australia. It's a wonderful thing to see orders coming in with the economic climate the way it is and it certainly helps to keep us afloat. There's not many words that inspire us to carry on with making our miniscule amounts of wine than the ones "Sold Out". When we started selling our wines I initially thought that it couldn't be too hard to sell only 350 cases of wine a year but how wrong I was! There's a lot of wine on the market and to get such a small name like ours even noticed by people can be a near impossible task. So to now be able to add the Sold Out stamp to three of our products is truly a wonderful thing.

On another note, here is our second riesling review for the week: http://fullpour.com/2009/05/karra-yerta-eden-valley-riesli.html - from Julian Coldrey's website www.fullpour.com

Karra Yerta Eden Valley Riesling 2005

"Is it possible to know a vineyard after tasting its output only twice? Hardly, or at least not in every respect. But those sites of special interest are so partly because they impart a particular character, hopefully attractive, to the wines made from their fruit. A truism, perhaps, and something of an abstract religion to those who place importance in the idea of a goût de terroir. Yet how striking when you have a real, live example in front of you, as I have this evening.

I tasted the 2008 version of this wine the other day, and enjoyed its accord of soft, elegant fruit and Eden minerality. And what strikes me instantly on smelling this older wine is the same beautiful character of fruit; pastel, watercolour, gauze-like fruit. That's the Karra Yerta vineyard, surely, in my glass now just as it was the other night. Perhaps this seems obvious and trite, but I consider it a marvel on a small scale, something essential and beautiful.

The palate is a slightly more austere, marginally aged, version of the younger wine, which is as it should be. There's a fantastic thrust of acidity that picks up on entry and carries the wine right through its impressive finish. Along the way, tart lime juice, left-of-centre minerality (it reminds of white Burgundy, for some reason) and more of that distinctively elegant fruit, more like a painting of a white peach than the fruit itself. A nice surge of intensity through the middle palate fits within the wine's architecture rather than spilling outside it. There's no great influence of bottle age bar a touch of honey.

A truly excellent Riesling that is about the Eden Valley, the Karra Yerta vineyard and the season in which it was grown. For those with an interest in terroir, I would advise to rush out and buy some -- if it weren't already sold out."

Karra Yerta Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin

Posted by Julian on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 2:49 AM

Filed in Australia, White

A new review for our 2008 Eden Valley Riesling

Our latest review: http://fullpour.com/2009/05/karra-yerta-eden-valley-riesli.html - this time from Julian Coldrey at his website www.fullpour.com

Julian is a Queenslander who along with his long-time mate and fellow wine appreciator Christopher Pratt (who is based in the USA) enjoys analysing wines from all over the world.

"Lately, I've been thinking about wine styles and how some come to be defined as classics over time. In a way, it's more complex than the literary canon, for example, in which a single, unchanging artifact is evaluated and re-evaluated over time. With wine, a particular combination of variety and region remains static but a whole set of variables -- everything from particular vintage conditions to winemaking to long term climatic variations -- ensures a constant evolution. So, how to pin down the essentials?

This wine poses the question because it seems to present atypically at first. The nose is heady, hinting at tropical richness without feeling at all broad. There are wisps of paw paw, honey and the sort of spice that would feel at home in a Gewürztraminer. These elements are at the fore, and for a moment mask a backbone of fine, detailed minerality and a curl of lime rind that are all about the Eden Valley. There's also what appears to be a touch of sulphur, adding complexity as much as anything else.

On the palate, these potential contradictions resolve beautifully. It's not a sweet wine, but there's a luxurious softness here that comes from a combination of ultra-fine acidity and fruit character that recalls the delicacy of truly fine cuisine. The entry is clean, showing mostly citrus fruit and a refreshing level of tartness. It swells significantly as things move towards the middle palate, with a well defined wash of precise flavour and a finely textured, supple mouthfeel. An undercurrent of minerality, and some sulphur-like notes, add a savoury undercurrent to proceedings. The finish is exceptionally long and fine, fading gently over time with an echo of citrus flowers.

Perhaps it is their very elasticity that elevates some styles above others, weaving a consistent thread through a variety of expressions, and drawing them together into something overarching and identifiable. This may not be a steely, forbidding wine, but it's an Eden Riesling just the same, with delicate minerality and an overall lightness of touch despite the generous flavour profile. An expression of this style I'm grateful to have tasted. A tiny production of 80 cases to be released in June."

Karra Yerta Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
0 Comments

Posted by Julian on Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 2:59 AM

Filed in Australia, White and tagged 2008, Eden Valley, Riesling, South Australia

Breakfast at Rocland

After a hard day's picking, in the early hours of Monday morning James had a 4.30am start and I was not too far behind at 6.30 am. The grapes were on the trailer and Steve at Rocland Winery was awaiting our two loads to be checked in at the weighbridge. On the way I did an emergency stop at the best place for breakfast in the Barossa - Blonde Coffee - and picked up a toasted cheese, bacon, egg and tomato sandwich and two lattes to go - good sustenance for a morning crush of our riesling. Despite the chill still in the air from a very cold night, it was a very exciting morning to be standing at the weighbridge munching on our breakfast as we received our cartnotes from Steve. After the worry of the possibility of it being a non-vintage (heatwave) we had managed to pick our largest ever Eden Valley Riesling crop - 2.75 tonnes.

I worked at Rocland last vintage as a laboratory assistant and the first thing I noticed this year was that it was much more relaxed. The late and long heatwave of 2008 caused much drama and panic with last year's processing throughout the industry and it was really different to walk into the winery and see the boys (and girls) looking refreshed and happy. Only someone who has worked an eight to ten week stint of twelve hours a day under the incredible pressure of a horror (weather-wise) vintage will understand what I mean.

By the time I had popped around the place to say my hellos to past workmates, James had the bins waiting by the press and Aaron was on the forklift and ready to start unloading them. Juicy (Peter Gajewski) was out and about heading in our general direction and before too long, the bunches were being pressed and the wine glass was out so that we could taste the fruits of our labour for 2009. Delicious! Apples.. that was the most significant thing we could all taste.

By 10am it was all over and James and I went back to our respective jobs for the rest of the day quite happy knowing that the juice was pressed and already in a tank. It really is a terrific feeling to watch your grapes start the process of becoming wine. I can't wait to follow its progress and see how it turns out.

And another load bites the dust....

Today has been a superb autumn day with perfect conditions for harvesting our Eden Valley Riesling. Our crew of ten along with our own family of four (plus dog) had an almost six hour day of hand-picking as the crop was heavier than we expected despite the February heatwave.

We were lucky to have a great crew of German, Belgian and French pickers with a few Aussies and even an Englishman thrown in for good measure! Thanks guys - you did a wonderful job considering it was starting to get a bit warm in the sun by the end of the day. I hope the beer and riesling soothed your aches and pains:) Even the dog is worn out after his effort today. Our teenage sons, Daniel and Matthew, bucket-carried all day and did a fabulous job. The dog, meanwhile, just moved along behind us and basically did nothing of great excitement until right at the end when he got caught in some of the bird-netting laying on the ground. The hazards of being a "watch-dog" ie obviously not watching where he was going!

Presently the grapes are sitting under the shade of our old gum tree, waiting to be delivered to Rocland Wines tomorrow morning to be processed. James and I are going to be there to help and I can't wait to see it as I have never been at the winery for our own "crush" before (James has but I have always been unable to for one reason or another). Anyway, it's a short blog entry tonight but I was keen to post the photos of yet another wonderful day.

The 2009 crush has begun!

Yesterday, Monday 9th March, was our first official day of vintage. In my blog entry of Wednesday 4th March I wrote that it appeared we would be picking our Eden Valley Riesling before the Barossa Shiraz but vintage is an unpredictable thing which changes daily. I was wrong in that assumption. The baume of the riesling was not quite where we wanted it (maybe due to the really cold nights we have been having out here in the hills the past week) so the 2009 Barossa Shiraz was the first to hit the crush.

Despite the horrific heatwave five weeks ago, the shiraz grapes ended up being in great condition which is a huge relief. The fruit tastes superb and the colour is amazing. It may be our best crop of Barossa Shiraz ever. All in all, we picked 1112kg and as I write this blog entry it is in the beginning of its processing at Biscay Road Vintners (run by Pete Schell, Spinifex and Jason Schwarz, Schwarz Wine Company) in Bethany. It is a very exciting time; especially because we have such a talented winemaker as Pete taking charge of things, not to forget Jason's knowledgable input as well.

As James and I both work other jobs as well as run the business and do the majority of the vineyard work, we now find ourselves in a position where there are just not enough hours in the day. James generally tends to the red wines (all are made at Biscay Road Vintners) on a daily basis initially until most of the major work is done and as of next week I assume, I will be trying to have as much input as possible at Rocland Wines in Nuriootpa where our riesling will be processed under the watchful eye of our favourite big guy, Peter Gajewski.

The next month will no doubt be a blur of being here, there and everywhere but it is always well worth it. Let the fun begin!

When it rains..... it's picking time!

After 80 days of not even a drop of rain, a few days ago we were all relieved to see the clouds finally break. Of course, in the back of our minds was the hope that if it was raining here perhaps in a few days time the same clouds would reach Victoria and put at least a little dampness on what remained of the ferocious fires that claimed over 200 lives. According to today's news, that is exactly what happened so there is much to be thankful for.

What the rain also meant was that suddenly there was the threat of split skins on the severely dehydrated grapes that had endured not only the rainless 80 days but also the week or two of horror temperatures hovering around the low to mid -forties (degrees celcius). The poor skins had shrivelled so much that even minimal moisture had them bursting at the seams. On the whole, whilst it is a problem, it is minor compared to many others that vignerons have faced country-wide and we will still produce a 2009 vintage which is more than some.

So tonight as I heard the ute with trailer in tow rattling up the gravel driveway, grape bins strapped to the back, I knew it was only a matter of days before we would be heading up to the high hills to start our grape-picking season. Ironically I thought we would be starting with our Barossa Shiraz from down on the Valley floor but at this stage it appears the Eden Valley Riesling will be the first to "come off". In any event, as always, it will be a huge relief to get the crops off and the wines processed. I will be uploading photos and hopefully videos of this years processing in the coming weeks.

New reviews from Philip White

The weather is a scorching forty one degrees celcius outside and I am not in a hurry to leave the computer, nor the air-conditoned room, for any reason. So it appears that the best way to spend my afternoon is to update my blogs, answer emails and print off any new reviews. So, in that respect, even though neither wines are officially released (both wines will be released after vintage ie March or April 2009) here are the latest reviews. It is our first review for our 2006 Shiraz and the second for our 2008 Riesling. Both reviews have been written by Philip White. You can read his wine blogs here: Drankster and Drinkster.

Karra Yerta Flaxman's Gully Eden Valley Barossa Riesling 2008

$20(?); unlabelled pre-release bottle; 12.5% alcohol; screw cap; 93++ points

Alsace. Germany. Tasmania. High Barossa. Who cares? Honey and nuts; gewurztraminer and roses; spicebox and creme caramel: you'll find all these sorts of delicioso swimming round this bowl. It's not the austere crisp rapier some earlier Karra Yertas have been, but it's rich and wholesome, like some of the more Germanic rieslings made in the Barossa in the sixties and seventies, and what I imagine Petaluma tried to do sometimes during the eighties. The flavour has lovely honey as much as lemon and lime: not exactly sweet, but with an illusion of sweetness as much as your actual unfermented sugary juice. The aftertaste is a tantalising tumble of spiced mead, citrus pith, dried apple, lemon blossom and dry stones. It's like a serious spatlese riesling fermented dry. It'd be perfect with a creme caramel flavoured with a tiny squirt of lemon and garnished with citrus rind; or King George whiting fillets wrapped around a little squirt of prawn mousseline in beurre blanc. Savvy?

Karra Yerta Flaxman’s Gully Barossa Shiraz 2006

pre-release unlabelled sample; ??% alcohol; screw cap; 94+++ points

The stony, barren ridge at the top of Flaxman’s, where the ancient rocks poke through high above the Barossa, is the home of some of the world’s most expensive and elusive shiraz wines. (Think Ringland, next door. McLean’s Farm at the northern end; Mountadam at the southern.) This vineyard is windswept and wild, freezing in the winter, and even cool at night in the midst of the most vicious heatwaves. So this rare tincture has quite a lot to live up to. It has the most intense and complex bouquet, riddled with twists of beauty that seem so blacksmithed into compression they unwind in a dreadfully gradual and teasing manner. Musk, lavendar, violets, licorice, mint, cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, blackcurrant, blackberry, beetroot, morel, porcini, ancient soy, salt, schist, podsol, guano, gunpowder, swarf, burlap ... I dunno. I could go on, and I’ve only had my hooter in the glass for thirty minutes. I know now that this wine is gonna be a king hell striptease viper with a voice like Barry White and Grace Jones for a Mum. The palate’s disarming and confronting from the first sip: just mildly viscous, especially compared to the intensity of its flavours, with, yep, the lithe form of the black whipsnake slithering around your mouth like some professional girls apparently dance on poles. It’s strangely compact and intense, as I’ve said too many times, but still seems ethereal in its saucy habit of letting little shots of its myriad components just go: they’re there for a flash as they evaporate, and suddenly they’re replaced by something else. And on and on it goes. The dance of the hundred and summit veils. Sometime a long way off all these bits and pieces will assimilate and homogenise and the damned thing will be mature and formal and very, very famous, and those astonishing components will let go at the same time in equal proportions and really, really gradually, but shit, that’ll kill people, and by Bacchus I love it now. I doubt that I can stay alive long enough to drink it at its peak, and if I did, it’d kill me anyway. Karra Yerta has never hit the top ten in the glambam gobstopper any price you like stakes, but it will, and it will outshine most of those wannabeez and cooderbeenz. This is a stunning, secret wine. Gimme! JAN 09

A friend and a gentleman

The wine industry is one of the toughest games to be in at the moment, and by the look of the current state of the market, things are not going to improve for a long time. Some days I wonder if it is all too tough but then something always happens to make me realise that all the hard work is worth it. Since starting our tiny little winery I have made many new friends and gotten back in contact with many old ones that I had lost touch with over the past years.

One of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of meeting is a gentleman by the name of Bill Biscoe. When I first met Bill, he was working at the cellar door of Penfolds at Nuriootpa. As both of my parents were employees of Penfolds for around twenty-five years each, I felt quite at home chatting to Bill whilst tasting some of the fine Penfolds range of wines.

It was during one of these visits that Bill and I began discussing our mutual admiration for Eden Valley Rieslings and to cut a long story short, we became friends. I find his unwavering encouragement to be a continual source of inspiration when times are tough. In fact, he is one of the very special people whom our latest (as yet unreleased) wine is dedicated to.

We were absolutely chuffed to have Bill, his lovely wife Jan and nine members of his family visit us last weekend for an informal afternoon of sharing bottles of wine in our lovely old stable on the occasion of Bill's 70th Birthday. My husband James had worked tirelessly to have our restored car ready to pick Bill up from his home in Angaston and bring out to our property via the scenic route past the Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park. Bill was very happy indeed and we enjoyed being able to do something extra special for him on his birthday.

These are the moments that James and I love about having our own business - to be able to have good friends visit us and enjoy the simple things of life - the company of nice people, good food and good wines. Life is too short and we all tend to work so hard that we forget to have fun. We are definitely not your "usual" Barossa winery people - we are country people who open our home to friends and simply like to share our passion for what we do - make miniscule amounts of what we think is terrific wine. To have guests visit us and see them drive off with a smile of their face really does make it worthwhile, and that is what makes the hard times worth it.

Happy Birthday Bill!

Good things come in small packages!

riesling
I have just added a photo to this blog of our winemaker Peter Gajewski (aka Juicy) sitting next to Tank 1101 at Rocland Wines having a taste of our 2008 Eden Valley Riesling. It's not often you see Juicy "sitting down on the job" but on this occasion it was our end of vintage breakup and things were pretty relaxed:)

It is good to have a picture of the actual tank that our wine is made in as it gives you an idea of just how small our production is. You can see how tiny it is even next to an adult let alone in comparison to the other tanks at Rocland! Amazing..... We usually get between 100 and 150 cases of riesling each year and it looks like this year will be more at the top end of the scale but still, it is a miniscule amount.

I had a taste of it just last week again, as I have periodically still been helping out in the laboratory at Rocland, and it is very austere. It should be yet another vintage that will age exceptionally well!

Cheers