Château Tanunda, Birth place of the Barossa, was established in 1890 and is the site of some of the Valley’s first vines planted as well as its first winery.
The Château is privately owned by the Geber family who are proud custodians of the Chateau’s 130th year winemaking tradition.
Its 130 years of winemaking heritage makes it the only internationally-recognised winemaking Château in Australia, a champion of Barossa Old Vine Expressions and is regularly rated amongst the top wine producers in the country.
This is one of the most historically significant winery buildings in the Barossa Valley, built from bluestone quarried in the late 1880s and restored by the Geber family some 120 years later.
Château Tanunda owns almost 100ha of vineyards in Bethany, Eden Valley, Tanunda and Vine Vale, including an impressive collection of old vines aged 50–150 years old.
Additional fruit is sourced from a group of 30 growers covering the panoply of Barossa districts.
The premium wines are typically hand picked, basket pressed and neither fined nor filtered.
The focus here is on old-vine wines, as well as single-district and single-vineyard wines under the Terroirs of the Barossa and The Château labels respectively.
A second cellar door has opened in the Rocks, Sydney.
"Hand picked from a single vineyard, planted 1850s.
Basket pressed, matured 7 months in seasoned French oak puncheons.
Tense and tight Barossa floor semillon of neutral nashi pear and lemon definition, built with the structural support of old French oak barrel maturation.
Coiled, taut and restrained, it projects impressive elegance while delivering enduring persistence. A cellaring special."
Tyson Stelzer
Published 13 August 2021
TASTING NOTES
Honey, Lemon, Grapefruit and hints of pineapple on the nose. Lively, fresh citrus and stonefruit on the fleshy palate with clean, fresh acidity on a long lingering finish. A seamless wine of fine acid structure and intense varietal flavours driving the length on the palate.
WINEMAKING
The grapes were hand picked, hand sorted and gently basket pressed before fermentation in a combination of temperature controlled stainless steel, and seasoned barrels.
This is followed by seven months’ barrel maturation in our cellars with regular lees stirring to enhance aroma and structure whilst building flavor complexity.
The Barossa is home to some of the world’s oldest ungrafted Semillon vines and the grapes for this wine are from an ancestor vineyard in the renowned Light Pass sub-region. The low yielding ‘Barossa Ancestor Vines’ were planted more than 150 years ago. Only 11.9 hectares of vines
over 150 years exist in the Barossa, representing 0.17% of the region’s plantings
* Only 219 cases produced
REVIEWS
96 POINTS
Review by: Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
This is beautifully styled with elegance and exquisite charm, showing lemon peel, crunchy apple, oatmeal and dried grass nuances combined with concentrated palate delivering fine focus and drive with a prolonged vibrant finish. At its best: 2025 to 2035
97 POINTS
Review by: Andrew Caillard MW
Pale/ light straw colour. Intense and beautifully focussed lemon curd, grapefruit, apricot, tonic water aromas with herb garden/ lime notes. Concentrated and pastille-like with fresh lemon curd, grapefruit, lime, nectarine fruits, underlying yeasty complexity, attractive mid-palate creamy notes and fresh mineral acidity. A remarkable multi-dimensional wine with linearity, width and depth. Maturation in seasoned oak puncheons makes all the difference. An emerging classic with underlying torque achieved through a persistent phenolic twist. Screw cap may allow very long-term aging. A beautiful Barossa Semillon from one of Australia’s oldest surviving 19th Century vineyards. Drink Now – 2032
93 POINTS
Review by: Aaron Brasher, Huon Hooke's The Real Review
Waxy, lemony, nutty and floral aromas: there's a real vitality and brightness to the nose. The palate is tight, all that waxy, lemony gear drives the flavour profile, there's some lovely oak that frames up the wine, but the drive of lemony, crunchy, citrusy fruit comes to the fore. Needs some time to show its straps. 2023–2031
94 POINTS
Review by: Tyson Stelzer, Halliday Wine Companion 2022
Hand picked from a single vineyard, planted 1850s. Basket pressed, matured 7 months in seasoned French oak puncheons. Tense and tight Barossa floor semillon of neutral nashi pear and lemon definition, built with the structural support of old French oak barrel maturation. Coiled, taut and restrained, it projects impressive elegance while delivering enduring persistence. A cellaring special.
