RWT stands for Red Wine Trials and is used by Penfolds for early releases when creating-making new red wines of Grange quality. QDR for Quaffing Dry Reds was the term used by Max Lake and Len Evans in the 1970s for the best quality reds they could offer for the lowest price.
The QDR was a wine that could be used to mop up ‘left-overs’ from expensive bottlings plus a brand to use for wines that did not make the grade of the expensive wines-in this case Lakes Folly and Rothbury. They were fabulous bargains and I purchased both to on sell to Canberra customers in the 1970s and 1980s. Glug likes the QDR idea for the same reason and the first Wheatsheaf, a QDR concept, was in 2008. This wine is a higher grade yet serves the same role.
Because it is 100% Barossa Valley we have called it a Field Blend. This term goes back to the era when different grape varieties were randomly planted in the same vineyard block and were harvested together. A different time with a different approach to farming which worked back then. This Wheatsheaf is also NV so we can blend in the left-overs from several vintages.
