Rara Avis means a rare bird and we have reinterpreted this as a rare and beautiful object or place which sums up the idea Glug has of the Barossa Valley. Something strange, and yes rare, happened to create the small pocket of land we call the Barossa Valley which makes wine of such intensity that experts decry they are all too much. About this we say let the customers make that decision.
Geography can only make wines like those of the Barossa as nature must impart the concentration into the bunch of grapes. You cannot make these wines by being a gifted wine maker. If the winemaker lets the bunches become full ripe and then pushes across the line to over ripe then you get a Shiraz like this Rara Avis. The alcohol is the sign all is well as it is 15.1%. Australia from the 1980s became caught in the fever of cool climate wines as being more natural so wines of generous flavour such as this were frowned upon.
Again we repeat, leave these questions to the customers and do not preach about what is better. The illustration is by the New York artist David C.J. Gassaway, being his interpretation of Rara Avis, and depicts the essence of the Barossa with its unique and important old vine varieties, with what looks like a dodo. The beauty is the old vine Barossa varieties are thriving.
