Glaetzer gets to the heart of it

Excellence award for young winemaker.

About a month or so ago I was working my way through 400-odd red wines in an annual tasting I do for The West Australian Saturday Magazine. A lot of the usual suspects were emerging from a very strong line-up of wines but one name came to me from out of left field.

The label was Heartland Wines and I'd have to say that at the end of the tasting it was clearly one of my better wine finds in the past six months. I had decided then that this label needed further examination but when the winemaker behind the label was announced as one of Australia's most promising young winemakers recently I thought the time had come to reveal all to the world – well at least readers of this column.

Heartland Wines are made by 27-year-old Ben Glaetzer, who just last week won the Qantas Medal for excellence among young winemakers at the annual Qantas Gourmet Traveller Wine Winemaker of the Year awards.

This is no mean feat given the wealth of talent among Australia's young and emerging winemakers. Glaetzer comes from one of the most famous of Australia's wine families. His father, Colin, is one of the Barossa's finest sons and the creator of the famous E&E Black Pepper shiraz, among others, and now has his own wine label called simply Glaetzer Wines.

Ben's uncle is John Glaetzer, whose name is synonymous with Wolf Blass and the Jimmy Watson Trophy, and who is without doubt one of Australia's greatest winemakers.

Both Ben and Colin now make wines together for the Glaetzer Wines label, and the rich, powerful and seductive expression of the Barossa is a hallmark of these super wines. And it would come as no surprise to know that both Ben and Colin Glaetzer were nominated as joint finalists in the Winemaker of the Year awards, which eventually went to Tyrrell's winemaker, Andrew Spinaze.

But back to the Heartland label, which, as it happens, is just one of several wines that young Ben makes, all of which helped him to collect the coveted Qantas Medal.

Heartland Wines are sourced from vineyards on the Limestone Coast and Langhorne Creek in South Australia by a small group of wine people with access to mature vineyards in these areas.

The vineyards play an important role. The Limestone Coast is about 300km south-east of Adelaide and is adjacent to a more famous neighbour, Coonawarra.

The geological profile shows the base of the area is limestone overlaid with the famous terra rossa soil containing high levels of oxidised iron. The soil profile, and its proximity to the cooling effects of the sea and the artesian water basin, contribute enormously to the quality of the fruit and the style of wines, which have lively, vibrant flavours.

The other main fruit source is Langhorne Creek, which is one of Australia's oldest wine producing areas and is just 70km from Adelaide. The mostly flat plains, which get low rainfall and moderate daytime temperatures, produce wines of remarkable opulence and suppleness.

With these, Glaetzer has been able to create an impressive number of wines that fall into three distinct ranges, the entry-priced Stickleback, the moderately-priced Heartland Coast & Creek and the small production Directors' Cut reserve range.

I was mightily impressed with them, to say the least, both from a quality perspective and value for money.

At the top of the range was the Heartland Directors' Cut shiraz 2002. This was one of the finds of the tasting for me. An absolute stunner, showing a lovely minty, almost eucalyptus, aroma but a deep, concentrated smoothly-textured fruit is the feature. The aromas are all violets and dark chocolate, while the palate is chock full of blackcurrant and spices with traces of licorice and black pepper. The tannins are just so silky and smooth.

Sitting behind the Directors' Cut is the Coast and Creek range.

Across the board they showed remarkable consistency and style, with deft winemaking clearly doing just enough to bring out the best in the fruit.

The Heartland Coast & Creek shiraz 2002 is a dark and delicious wine of lifted eucalyptus and plummy character with a bundle of spices adding complexity and interest. It's super value and worth a serious look.

The Heartland Coast & Creek cabernet sauvignon 2002 is another beauty with deep, penetrating cabernet showing classic blackcurrant character. There's lots of sweet fruit flavour in there as well and the fine tannins create a silky texture and wonderful mouth feel.

These wines are thoroughly recommended.

In both Spinaze and Glaetzer you see people not afraid to experiment and challenge, and the results are clearly evident in their wines.