Australia
Glaetzer- Shiraz
The Glaetzer family has been part of the Barossa Valley and its viticulture history since 1888. After 30 years of winemaking, Colin Glaetzer established the family winery to create limited quantities of super premium Barossa Valley red wines. Today Colin’s son Ben makes unique and elegant wines which are regarded as classics and unmistakably Barossan.
All fruit for Glaetzer Wines is taken from a small sub district of the Northern Barossa Valley called Ebenezer which produces exceptional fruit from very old vines. The softness and elegance of Ebenezer fruit coupled with Ben Glaetzer’s winemaking style results in generous wines with great depth of flavour that are also elegant, multilayered and finely balanced.
The first Glaetzers settled in the Barossa Valley in 1888 after emigrating from Brandenburg, Germany. The family left Germany on board the Nord-Deutscher Lloyd steamer “Habsburg” and took seven weeks to reach their final destination of Port Adelaide. From here they settled in a country town called Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley where they started their new life in Australia. The family were some of the earliest recorded viticulturalists in the Barossa Valley and Clare Valley.
Over a century later, winemaking patriarch Colin Glaetzer established Glaetzer Wines, a boutique family owned winery producing premium Barossa Valley wines. Today Colin’s son Ben carries on the wine making traditions at Glaetzer Wines. Indeed it was the birth of Glaetzer Wines that signaled a new era for Colin’s family which boasts more than its fair share of winemakers.
The wines:
- Wallace (Shiraz-Grenache): Glaetzer Wallace takes on the traditional Barossa Valley blend of Shiraz and Grenache in a modern way. The Shiraz brings backbone, flesh and body to the wine with the Grenache adding a soft, vibrant juiciness.
- Bishop (Shiraz): Glaetzer Bishop is a true expression of Barossa Shiraz that is elegantly structured with a long finish. Bishop is the family name of Colin’s wife’ Judith. Fittingly the sign of Venus, a symbol which has come to represent women and feminine energy, is the centerpiece of the Bishop label.
- Anaperenna (Shiraz-Cabernet): Glaetzer Anaperenna is a seamless fusion of the two varieties Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Voluptuous, opulent and yet refined, with a very long and satisfying finish.
- Amon-Ra (Shiraz): Amon-Ra Shiraz is an iconic wine that epitomizes Ben Glaetzer’s passion to create wines that are full flavored, multi layered and intense but still elegant, stylish and finely balanced
- Ra (Shiraz): The Eye of Ra is an ultra-premium Shiraz that reflects Ben Glaetzer’s aspiration to make the perfect wine. A wine with astounding power and complexity countered by exemplary elegance.
Tasting notes: Amon-Ra 2019
Robert Parker: 96+ points (Reviewed September 1, 2021.)
(Reviewed by Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate.)
“The 2019 Amon Ra Shiraz is 100% Shiraz and 100% from the 2019 vintage, as Ben Glaetzer felt it—unlike many previous vintages—didn’t need to be freshened with a small proportion of younger wine. From old vines in the Ebenezer district of the northern Barossa Valley, it offers classic notes of blackberries and spice, framed by hints of cedar and vanilla (it’s aged in 100% new oak hogsheads, mostly French). It’s full-bodied yet crisp, supple but tight and really long. Offering lovely dark fruit, hints of espresso and black olive, it finishes mouthwatering and firm. Give it some time in the cellar and drink it from 2025 – 2040.”