The Riebke Shiraz is dedicated to the Riebke Brothers who have vineyards located in the Northern Barossa sub-districts of Ebenezer, Moppa and Kalimna. Their family has been tending these vines for 5 generations. The brothers owned an old vine Grenache vineyard and were selling the fruit to some of the industry’s big boys, however, the low yields and low prices being paid meant that the brothers were running the vineyard at a loss. In stepped winemaker, Kym Teusner, who together with his business partner, managed to scrape up enough cash to purchase about a quarter of the fruit – enough to stave off the brother’s plans of scrapping the vineyard. Since that day the Riebekes have become an integral supplier and Teusner gracefully acknowledges that the quality of this wine is really due to the brother’s viticultural talent, adding ‘Those guys have some of the best-kept vineyards in the Ebenezer district’.
In the glass it has a very deep midnight black core with a dark red black tinged hue. Unfurling from the glass are spicy dark plum and liquorice scents which meld into toasty vanillin cedar and peppered earth notes. Generous and juicy the medium to full bodied palate features ripe dark plum and liquorice fruits over spicy vanillin cedar, scorched earth and pepper characters. Polished tannins with a fleshy aftertaste that has plenty of pepper and spice to it.
