Calabria Family Wines has stepped up its pursuit of premium with the release of its priciest offering to date: The Iconic Grand Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz 2012.
The Calabria family described the release as an exciting step in the family’s ongoing journey to craft outstanding premium wines.
Priced at RRP $175, The Iconic is the most expensive wine that the Calabria family has released.
It is also the inaugural vintage for Calabria family's recently acquired Barrossa Valley winery.
In 2010, the Riverina wine family expanded into the Barossa Valley with the purchase of two vineyards in Nurioopta, which contained 100 year-old vines.
It took two years for the vines to produce a high enough quality of grape.
Head winemaker Bill Calabria said the Barossa Valley vines were originally planted in 1914, and he hand-harvested the fruit for The Iconic.
“Someone was working hard in 1914 when they planted these vines, and we’ve done our very best to maintain the integrity of the vines and the fruit they produce.
“This premium wine represents not only our family’s love and dedication for the craft of winemaking, but also the families before us that worked hard and made sacrifices to develop the vineyard.”
He also said that the shiraz represents “a new page for our family”.
Calabria's son, sales manager Andrew Calabria, described his father's goal in restoring the vineyards as “a labour of love”.
Because the mean summer temperatures of this vintage were cooler than average, this allowed the vines to mature slowly, resulting in balanced flavours that built throughout the growing season, according to Calabria.
After being hand-picked and hand-sorted, the fruit was fermented in traditional open vats for seven days before being pressed to barrel.
The wine then matured in French oak for 18 months prior to being bottle-matured for a further 12 months.
“It has been tough work restoring these vines to produce such a high quality product, but for us it is all about continuing to nurture these old vines for future generations to experience the joy they have given to us and embracing the history they contain,” said Andrew Calabria.
