We hosted some very special tastings at cellar door during the 2017 Barossa Vintage Festival in April.
Over our 25 years of business, Ron has been carefully stashing away a few cases of each vintage ever produced of our premium red wine range. What a treat it was for us to taste our museum stocks to see how they were travelling. Overall, they are all aging well and the following vintages were selected based on their greater intensity and developed varietal characters.
Winemaker Ron Liebich’s Comments:
The Darkie Shiraz
Vintage 1999 – A relatively cooler year produced a wine with everything you’d expect for Barossa Shiraz. This wine still show great depth of colour, fruit intensity and complexity. Developed fruitcake spice, smoky oak and lovely pepper hints carry through to smooth long palate.
Vintage 2001 – A great quality season helped the wines make themselves in the vineyard. A concentrated and full bodied Shiraz with magnificent mouth feel. Tight tannins still grip a little, but are nicely balanced with subtle woody notes and cherry jam sweetness. Beautiful development under cork. 2001 is holding up better than the 2000?s. Still has a few years to live.
The Lofty Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage 1998 – A superb quality season. This Cab still shows great depth of colour, fruit intensity and complexity. Palate is spot on with acidity and drying tannins contributing to a tightly structured, persistent palate. Drinking well now.
Vintage 2001 – A concentrated Cabernet with super fine tannins and a lack of any aggressive oak characters. The trademark style of Liebichwein Cabernet still comes through with ripe blackberries and intense floral violet notes. Palate is still fresh and amazingly long. Still has a few years to live.
Don’t miss this chance to taste rare wines from our personal cellar!
We’re holding special tastings at cellar door during the Barossa Vintage Festival. This festival has been running for 70 years and in 2017 we are celebrating the 25th vintage for Liebichwein.
Select vintages from 1999 through to 2008 will be open every day for wine tasting flights.
Retrospective Reds include The Darkie Shiraz, The Lofty Cabernet Sauvignon and Potter’s Merlot.
Forgotten Fortifieds include single varietal blends, some over 20 years old.
Wednesday 19th to Sunday 23rd April 2017 between 11am-5pm.
This single vineyard flagship wine is dedicated to Ron’s?uncle Clarence Walter ?Darkie? Liebich (1920-1988) who encouraged Ron’s winemaking abilities. Uncle ‘Darkie” planted the old 40 acre block on heavy biscay soil on the eastern foothills of the Barossa Ranges in 1969. The vines receive minimal attention and allow nature to do the work.?Dead arm affliction reduces yield but enhances flavour as does the use of hand-pruning and minimal irrigation. ?The vines grow on heavy black biscay soil at Rowland Flat on the eastern foothills of the Barossa.
Special?museum stock 2008 vintage is currently available -?a very good growing season resulting in an extremely low yield averaging 2 tonne per acre. Traditional techniques of hand plunging, basket-pressing with no fining or filtration were employed for fuller flavour.
A unique wine that has been maturing for over five years in various aged American and French hogsheads, producing a multi-layered wine showcasing an enticingly rich nose, balanced intense flavours and subtle oak characters.
Taste Notes: The?nose exhibits black cherries, vanilla, chocolate with hints of sweet anise. Amazingly complex concentrated flavours fill the whole mouth lingering long after the first sip. All this is perfectly balanced with the subtle oak maturation and super silky tannins. Exceptional drinking now, but will reward patience with bottle maturation for another 10 years at least.
From time to time Ron has the opportunity to release?small quantities of?wine?from a single vineyard.
This premium Barossa Shiraz is produced from low yielding 45 year old vines. Maturation in old American oak for at least two years delivers a complex, flavoursome wine. All our reds are bottled unfiltered to capture the essence of the variety.
The wine?exhibits intense brooding berries, dark plum and pepper flavours. Excellent fruit length with a richly textured palate in complete harmony with the oak.
An ever popular wine in our cellar door range, it?has been released in vintage 2005, 2006, ?2010, 2011 and 2012.
Whenever these wines appear they quickly sell out, our dedicated mail order customers can’t get enough!
The 2012 vintage will be available from December 2017. Limited stock of 250 dozen.
Leveret is the term for a baby hare, which narrowly escapes being run over by the tractor from row to row.
A single vineyard Barossa Shiraz from the excellent 2012 vintage. Lovers of big Barossa Shiraz won?t be disappointed.
A classic full bodied black inky Barossa shiraz grown on 22 year old vines in the eastern foothills of Rowland Flat, where heavier red brown black soils predominate.
Traditional techniques of hand plunging, basket-pressing and bottling without fining or filtration, all help to preserve the essence of fruit. Maturation for 24 months in seasoned American and French oak has delivered a complex wine with intense dark berries balanced superbly with spiced vanillin oak flavours.
Enjoy now and for at least 10 years, particularly with red meats and richly flavoured foods. This wine?was bottled in screw cap to immortalise the magnificent flavours beyond the life span of cork.
Taste Notes: Black inky colour. Bouquet of bright red plums and vanilla spice. Full-bodied with excellent fruit length and textured palate.
