Barossa Valley’s Living Legend
If Ben Glaetzer were a musician, he’d be a rockstar. As a winemaker he is a pioneer, a rule breaker and a legend in Australia and internationally. Ben comes by his talents honestly, the current generation of a family who emigrated from Brandenburg, Germany to the Barossa Valley in 1888 and became one of the earliest recorded viticulturalists in the region. Today, Ben is the driving force behind both Heartland and Glaetzer Wines, blending what he learned at Roseworthy College in Adelaide with extensive travels around the globe to work with some of the best international winemakers. The result is his now iconic style: elegant and expressive wines that are still unmistakably “wines of place”.
No matter where it comes from – Langhorne Creek, Limestone Coast or Ebenezer – grapes from South Australia are ripe and bursting with flavour, perfectly suited to the style of red wine that the region has become famous for: high alcohol, jammy with toasty oak and vanilla. Ben’s genius, and the reason he was heralded as a legend in the wine world at a young age, is his commitment to lead with his remarkable and refined palate, creating wines that sing with a signature ripeness while harmonizing with savour, texture and balance.
It begins in the vineyards, where thick canopies are grown to protect the grapes from the relentless sun and fruit is picked early to preserve freshness. In the winery, only neutral yeasts are used to express fruit purity and cool ferments have extended skin contact to add softness and gently extract tannins. Aging in oak is meant to add structure and depth, not flavour. No vintage is treated exactly the same and the results are spectacularly dynamic wines year after year. Both his prized Glaetzer wines, revered by critics and collectors alike, and the Heartland series, designed to attract a new generation of wine enthusiasts, have received outstanding praise and accolades from around the world.
With a long list of accomplishments behind him already, what keeps Ben truly legendary is a constant desire to innovate and to showcase the range and potential of the region. We love what he’s already done and can’t wait to see what’s next!
Heartland 2018 ‘Directors’ Cut’ Shiraz, Langhorne Creek
Retail: $42.95 / btl (6 btl/cs)
Click HERE to order!
Glaetzer 2017 Amon-Ra Shiraz, Barossa Valley
Retail: $85.00 / btl
Available in February. Click HERE to pre-order!
The Wines
Heartland 2018 ‘Directors’ Cut’ Shiraz, Langhorne Creek
The fruit for the Directors’ Cut Shiraz was selected from the best vineyards in the region, harvested at night to maintain freshness and then crushed into small open top stainless-steel fermenters. After 24 hours of skin contact, a cool fermentation began on skins, pumped over three times daily for 10 days. The wine was transferred to French and American oak hogsheads for 14 months maturation. The 2018 vintage saw only 40% new oak to ensure the fruit remained the focus.
94 points – David Lawrason, WineAlign, May 2021
“This is a big, intense shiraz from the special Langhorne Creek appellation of South Australia that always seems to deliver intensity. The nose is a blast of cassis, black pepper, fresh herbs (thyme/rosemary), cedar bough and American oak vanillin. There is also an inky/tarry note. Did I mention complex? It is full bodied, dense, rich with salty minerality. Great focus and length. Very dynamic wine.”
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Glaetzer 2017 Amon-Ra Shiraz, Barossa Valley
Amon-Ra Shiraz is an iconic wine that epitomizes Ben Glaetzer’s passion to create wines that are full-flavoured, multi-layered and intense but still elegant, stylish and finely balanced. Exceptional old vine fruit was sourced from the famed Ebenezer sub-district at the northern tip of the Barossa Valley from vines aged 50 to 130 years. The wine was fermented in open fermenters, hand plunged three times daily and then matured for 16 months in 100% new oak hogshead barrels (95% French and 5% American) on the fine lees to maintain fruit profile and animation. The wine was bottled unfiltered to ensure minimal intervention with its natural characteristics.
96 points – Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate
“A profound example of Ebenezer fruit and skilled winemaking, the 2017 Amon Ra Shiraz is full-bodied and velvety in texture, picking up more nuances the longer it sits in the glass. Floral and mint notes appear on the nose, along with a mix of raspberries, blackberries and baking spices. There’s plenty of new oak, but it’s been mostly absorbed into the wine, leaving a drink that’s rich and sumptuous. And just when you think it’s over, a bit of licorice appears on the long finish to add a pleasant finale.”
Available in February. Click HERE to pre-order!
About Heartland
Heartland is 4 partners, one of whom is Ben Glaetzer, undeniably, one of the top winemakers in Australia. Another is Nick Keukenmeester, well known for his time working in the wine trade in Toronto (and perhaps his Canadian wife). Grant Tilbrook & Scott Collett ,vineyard owners & winery partners, make up the rhythm section. Grant had been an important part of Scott’s success with Woodstock Wine Estate in McLaren Vale, so a partnership seemed an obvious progression. Grant was also one of the first to recognise Ben’s true potential and it wasn’t long before they had formed a plan to make a range of unique and impressive wines.
Vineyards in Langhorne Creek, primarily the sustainably-farmed Angas Vineyard, 300 km South-East of Adelaide, provide the fruit. The wines are made at Barossa Vintners, a state-of-the-art custom crush facility, where Ben makes his own wines as well as those for several consulting clients. The Glaetzer/Heartland crew are partners in the facility.
These are contemporary Australian wines — often surprising in the balance and restraint they show — and remarkable in doing so while delivering serious depth and character.
About Glaetzer Wines
With a viticultural history in Barossa & Clare dating to 1888, the current Glaetzer clan could be considered Barons of the Barossa. In fact, Colin (dad) and Ben (son) are both just that — in recognition of their winemaking skills and contribution to the cultural traditions of the Barossa Valley. After working throughout Australia and internationally, Colin returned to Barossa in 1985 to run Barossa Valley Estate (E & E Black Pepper Shiraz, the Ebenezer…). Ten years later, he established Glaetzer Wines with his family.
Ben is now at the helm of the family winery, crafting 4 remarkable wines from old vines; many bush-trained and dry-farmed; from a collection of vineyards in the Ebenezer sub-district of the northern Barossa. The most remarkable vineyards have own-rooted bush vines, giving under 1 tonne per acre.
The wines have quickly become true classics — Amon Ra is an icon, considered in the company of Grange and Hill of Grace. Ben’s philosophy is ‘guided more by the artistic side in flavours, aromatics and the overall personality of a wine… art comes into it when allowing a natural process to occur rather than trying to influence it’. He makes unique, balanced wines with minimal intervention, perhaps some of the most elegant in the region.
NEW! Order online at TheVineAgency.ca.
You can also email wine@thevineagency.ca or call 416.693.7994. We’d love to chat about wine with you!
