Shiraz and the Barossa are now locked together as a great team. The recent global initiatives of Treasury, owners of the Penfolds brand and holders of a vast acreage in the Barossa assures the success of Barossa Shiraz for decades to come. Since the 1950s they have worked with another of the great Barossa heritage varieties Mataro but always a back-bone in the blending.
The Bin 2 was a blend of Shiraz and Mataro with 1960 the first release and Mataro, or Mourvedre as Penfolds prefers, is one of the trio in Bin 138. It would be nice to have them on-board in promoting a 100% varietal Mataro and perhaps one day!
At the start our winemaker and I wanted Glug to work with Mataro and the first Harem was a 2005 blend of Shiraz, Grenache Mataro with the first 100% Mataro being the Harem Sultan Barossa Valley Mataro 2009. It does not work ever year at the level of Sultan though a tiny amount made its way through in the 2018 vintage. Again I emphasise, there are no tricks, just the fruit of the vine.
