Many of the Village Belle wines are not made by Glug, but being purchased one barrel at a time from small grower-makers we follow. We are interested in taste variations to Barossa and Eden Valley varieties beyond our core range of Shiraz and Cabernet.
Small vignerons are an adventurous lot and their desire to learn means they will try anything at least once. So, they become our source for the many alternative varieties that are now planted across the Barossa. They retain what they can sell while we are offered a barrel or two each vintage of varieties surplus to requirements.
We like their wine making attitude and since the first Village Belle of 2013 have bottled over 15 different varieties. Grenache though is a staple and we have offered 2013, 2016, 2017, 2020 and now this 2022. All different and from many different makers.
Grenache is a heritage variety of the Barossa Valley being a staple for the famous fortified wines which were the bread and butter of the Barossa into the 1970s. Grenache was used to make port and it was not until the mid-1980s that the adult children of traditional family growers began making table wines from Grenache. Several of the greatest Barossa reds I have tried were made in the early 1990s from Grenache and Mataro.
