Glaetzer Amon – Ra, one of Barossa Valley’s best reds, has continued to make waves in the global market, thanks to a notably New World take on technology and business while adhering to the tried-and-true of Old World wine making.
In recent years Barossa Valley has seen a surge of winemaking success thanks to visionary winemakers such as Ben Glaetzer, whose family links to the Barossa Valley viticulture go as far back as 1888. His father, Collin, set up the family winery making limited quantities of Barossa Valley reds in 1995, after a thirty-year career in wine-making, especially notable for turning out the iconic E & E Black Pepper Shiraz. Joining the family business in 1998, Ben eventually took over the reins of the winemaking duties in 2002.
Both father and son share a philosophy that great wines are made in the vineyard, using only exceptional fruit from a committed coterie of fifth-generation grape growers from the small sub-region of the northern Barossa Valley called Ebenezer.
The fruit used in its premium wines such as Glaetzer Amon – Ra Shiraz and Anaperenna, for example, comes from low-yielding un-grafted bush vines, some as old as 100 years, and grown with the least possible irrigation. Ben has also emulated many French practices, including the use of new oak for aging, in an attempt to create an Australian counterpart, at the same time acknowledging modern scientific and business know-how.