Dutschke Gods Hill Road Shiraz 2013 CONFIRM 2013 VINTAGE

Shiraz Barossa South Australia
The philosophy at Dutscke has always been to hand pick small parcels of fruit from the elite St Jakobi Block and make a range of superior, single vineyard wines. Until recently. Since shifting their operations to Gods Hill Road, there have been a few changes. GHR Shiraz is a small batch assemblage of parcels from precious vineyards within a tiny but exquisite Shiraz growing appellation, displaying elegance and controlled power, with a profound sense of place.
God's Hill Road is less than two kilometres in length and runs along a small hill range to the west of Lyndoch Valley. Along this short stretch of dirt road are some wonderful old Shiraz sites, tended by some of Barossa's most dedicated growers, planted to a great collection of soil types. There's Peter Gilsmore's Max's Vineyard, sited to sandy terrain with scatterings of ironstone. Robert and Nanette Staker's Vineyard is red earth over clay, atop Benno Semmler's old property. Much of Wally Krieg's Block was planted in the 1920s on red dirt over clay and biscay soils. GHR Shiraz is matured twenty months in a selection of seasoned and new, French and American oak hogsheads. Alcohol 14.5%
Dark garnet colour. Big, soft and round nose with bouquets of berry and plum. Ripe fruit characters on a sweetly concentrated palate, spice and mocha notes of French and American oak maturation complement plum and ripe red berry flavours, soft drying tannins highlight the elegant finish.
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Winemaker Wayne Dutschke is blessed by the foresight of his ancestors who planted the winery's vineyard at Lyndoch in the southern end of the Barossa Valley

Once upon a time around the end of the 19th century, this 72 acre patch of real estate included only a few acres of vineyard, with most of the area being dedicated to cropping and dairy cattle. At the start of the 1930's Oscar Semmler, winemaker Wayne Dutschke's grandfather bought the block and more vineyard was planted, but it remained primarily a grazing area for dairy purposes. Oscar's Semmler's Dad referred to the dirt as a wonder of creation, a fact borne out by the wine now coming from it. The vineyard of that time while reflecting the fortified market of the day, did not predict the potential to produce the rich varietal flavours found in current production.

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Oscar's son Ken returned to the Barossa Valley in the early 1970's after first spreading his wings as a fighter pilot with the RAAF, dodging anti-aircraft fire above the jungles of Vietnam. Then in 1975, the transition began with Ken starting the planting of the beloved Shiraz, and it is this first area of Shiraz which provides the precious component of Dutschke Wines. Currently forty five acres are planted with Shiraz making up one third of that area, the balance including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Most of the fruit gets passed onto other Barossa winemakers.

Here at Lyndoch the growing conditions are reliable and consistent, allowing the production of premium wines year after year. It's rather fascinating to note that all varieties have performed well, both in an analytic sense and the all important consumer taste test!

In 1990 Ken and Wayne decided to keep some of these grapes for themselves and start producing wine of their own from this vineyard under the brand WillowBend. Production never intended to be a big time operation, with the bulk of the fruit each year being delivered to the Krondorf and Mildara Blass Winemakers.

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With the 1998 vintage release, interest from the US led to the name being changed to Dutschke Wines and production for future vintages was revved up to support this market and many others that have followed.

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