The Colonial Estate Explorateur Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021

The vineyards that make up Explorateur are based in the northwestern Barossa Valley. This is a belt of land/terroir that runs from just to the northwest of Tanunda – Marananga, Greenock, Moppa, Ebenezer, and through to Stockwell, just north of Nuriootpa. Cropping levels are kept low to ensure fruit flavour is focus. The same equipment that is accorded to our more expensive wines is made available to Explorateur. Fermentation is French in approach for up to two thirds of the wine made; the rest is vinified in a more Australian way.

Niche Chardonnay 2021

Machine harvested in the cool of the night then crushed, chilled and fermented immediately to maintain fresh fruit characters. We used wild yeast and gave this wine extended lees stirring to further depth of flavour. The wine was bottled after careful filtration to retain the vibrant fruit and depth of varietal flavours.

1838 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2021

Sourced from vineyards across South Australia. Harvested at the cool of night before being transported to the winery then we crushed the fruit quickly to separate the clear juice from the skins. We used specific yeast for Sauvignon Blanc and after a cool fermentation the wine was carefully filtered and bottled to retain all the appealing fruit flavours.

The Colonial Estate Etranger Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Grapes were specifically sourced from the Western Barossa Valley. It's hard country with the shallow grey sandy soil over red clay producing small bunches of intense, non-herbaceous Cabernet Sauvignon. Cropping levels were low and much of the older vineyards were hand picked and selected by vigneron and winemaker especially for the high fruit intensity of the individual grapes. 2019 was another stand out vintage from a quality point of view although we had the lowest yields in recent history which meant incredible intensity of flavour and colour. We use extreme cold maceration to extract as much natural fruit flavour as possible and use open top fermenters and hand plunge keeping our old-world winemaking philosophy front of mind during the entire process to ensure only the finest wine is aged in barrel for 12 months prior to final blending and minimal filtration.