By John Rozentals.
A splendid Barossa vista: the St John’s Road Resurrection Vineyard.
One of the Barossa Valley wine producers, St John’s Road, has undergone a significant overhaul, simplifying its range down to four quality wines as well as a dramatic face-lift that sees a bold and colourful new patterned design for each label.
Established in 2001, St John’s Road has always celebrated the diversity and rich history of the Barossa region, receiving significant awards and accolades for its wine quality along the journey.
The new more concise range aims to sharpen this focus with the former premium wines being absorbed into the four new blends.
The intention is to deliver higher-grade wine quality and even greater value for money than ever before.
Each wine in the range has been produced with minimal-intervention techniques and is named to reflect a characteristic of the wine and the region itself.
The 2019 Peace of Eden is a riesling that comes from the cooler-climate Eden Valley, which is ideally suited to the clean, pure flavours of the riesling grape.
The 2018 vintage of The Resilient Grenache is named in honour of the Barossa’s grenache vines which are some of the oldest in the world, having survived the vine pull scheme of the 1980s as well as a life almost permanently on the wrong side of fashionable wine trends.
The 2017 Motley Bunch is a blend of grenache, mataro and shiraz — three of the great red grape varieties that are a cornerstone to the Barossa’s red winemaking pedigree, while the 2018 Blood & Courage is St John’s Road’s interpretation of the quintessential Barossa Valley shiraz — powerful, yet elegant.
WINE REVIEWS
St John’s Road 2019 Peace of Eden: Riesling is right at home growing in the coolish hills on the edge of the Barossa Valley proper and some of the country’s top examples of dry white made from the variety hail from here. The wine is fresh and crisp, and goes a treat with lighter seafood and salads.
St John’s Road 2017 Motley Bunch: This dry red is a blend of grenache, mataro (also known as mourvedre) and shiraz, a blend well known in the south of France. And there’s good reason for its acceptance here — it’s a delicious combination that goes very nicely with the bistro-style food so often consumed across most of the country most of the time. Look for flavours of spice.
WINE OF THE WEEK
St John’s Road 2018 Blood & Courage: This shiraz is a deep red and loaded with berry flavours. It’s a real Barossa Valley red with plenty of ripe tannin and vanilla oak. It will match well with roast beef or a really good char-grilled rare steak. It has, as the makers claim, power and elegance.
NOTE: Potential travellers should check the status of individual events and establishments with regard to the coronavirus outbreak.
