Barossa Valley
Warm Mediterranean
Australia's most famous old-vine Shiraz country, in the warm hills north-east of Adelaide.
Overview
About Barossa Valley
The Barossa was settled in the 1840s by Lutheran immigrants from Silesia, whose German heritage is still visible in its towns and food. It contains some of the oldest continuously producing Shiraz vines in the world, including plantings dating to the 1840s, and its Old Vine Charter classifies vines by age from 35 years upward through to 125-year-old 'Ancestor' vines.
Shiraz is dominant, but Grenache, Mataro (Mourvèdre) and Cabernet Sauvignon are also important, and the higher, cooler Eden Valley next door is better known for Riesling. Barossa wines are typically ripe, dense and powerful.
Barossa Valley is marked on the map.
Australia
Shaded: South Australia. Map units are states, provinces or départements, so a smaller place appears as the larger area that contains it.
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Warm Mediterranean
Warm and dry with hot summers, and irrigation is often needed. The Barossa Ranges bring elevation and cooler conditions to some vineyards, especially in the neighbouring Eden Valley.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
A patchwork of ancient soils: red-brown earths and clay loams on the valley floor, and sandier, stonier and poorer soils in the hills. Low-vigour old vines give small yields of concentrated fruit.
Go deeper
Rules, years & producers
The Barossa is a legal region within a zone, and it has its own charter for old vines.
Barossa Zone
The larger area, containing the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley regions.
Barossa Valley GI
The warm valley floor and surrounding hills, and the home of the region's Shiraz.
Barossa Old Vine Charter
Grades vines by age: Old Vine (35+ years), Survivor (70+), Centenarian (100+) and Ancestor (125+).
What's grown here
Grapes
Each grape's page links back here.