You see, we kept meeting young gun winemakers who had access to tiny parcels of prime fruit which they wanted to craft into small-batch, character-laden wines – and we wanted to encourage them! With no rules to adhere to, these talented winemakers produced astounding wines that dazzled the critics: "Avant-garde and highly successful" (James Halliday), "Australian genius … made with passion" (Jancis Robinson MW), "Must be tasted to be believed" (Robert Parker). RedHeads nowadays has much bigger premises in the South Australia's world-famous Barossa, but it is uniquely designed to produce small batch fermentations, just like they did in the old days. The 1888 is their flagship Barossa Shiraz and it's a beauty, deep, dark and decadently intense – the kind that made the Barossa famous. Make sure you go and visit them in the Barossa. They'd love to show you around.
What RedHeads does best – searches out small parcels of fabulous quality grapes, brimful of flavour. Then they blend them, bit by bit, to handcraft a wine with abundant character and plenty of stylish panache. Our winemaker spotted these two unusual Spaniards on the Rocca's small family property in One Tree Hill, a tiny hamlet between the Barossa and Adelaide Hills. Not quite in the elevated part, it gets quite warm during the day, but there’s a cool draught from the Hills at night, which slows ripening and explains the amazing deep crimson hue of Vin’atus. Hand picked, destemmed and hand plunged (with effort!), and vinified in our traditional open-top fermenters, this is a hefty red, but velvet smooth. Ideal with lamb or rich bean stew.
