Turkey Flat is an

Australian wine The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor ...

ry located in Tanunda, in the middle of South Australia's Barossa Valley wine-growing region. It is described by wine expert Oz Clarke as one of the " cult wines" of Australia.Clarke, Oz. ''Oz Clarke's Australian Wine Companion: an Essential Guide for All Lovers of Australian Wine'' pg 20 Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, 2004 With more than 40% of its production dedicated to ''

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the wine color, color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the Macerati ...

s'', Turkey Flat has been considered a leader in the recent "rosé revival" trend of the early 21st century.J. Gordon (ed) ''Opus Vino'' pgs 721-722, DK Publishing New York 2010, The history of Turkey Flat wines began in 1847 when Johann Frederick August Fiedler planted

Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...

vines near Bethany Creek. The vines planted in 1847 are some of the oldest vines used for commercial wine production today and believed to be the world's oldest vines that have been authenticated.G. Harding ''"A Wine Miscellany"'' pg 19-20, Clarkson Potter Publishing, New York 2005 However, another Barossa winery, Langmeil, and one in the Goulburn Valley wine region,

Tahbilk Tahbilk Winery is a historic Australian winery with National Trust certification. It is located north of Melbourne between the townships of Seymour and Nagambie in the Nagambie Lakes a sub region of Goulburn Valley Wine Region. It was est ...

, also claim to have vines just as old, or even older than Turkey Flat.John Wilson '
German blends down under
'' ''The Irish Times'' 10 March 2012

History

Founded by Johann Frederick August Fiedler who planted Shiraz on the property, Turkey Flat was also a dairy farm as well as a butchery for several generations. It was named Turkey Flat because of the flocks of Australian Bustard that lived along the creek flats. In 1865 the Schulz family became the owners of the Turkey Flat property. When fourth generation vineyard owners, Peter and Christie Schulz took over the property in 1987 they switched its focus completely over to grape growing and winemaking in the 1990s.Knight-Ridder News Service '
Down Under Ripe for Grape Growing
'' Rome News-Tribune, 28 June 2000

Old vines

The 1847 Shiraz vines at Turkey Flat are believed to the oldest authenticated vines that are still producing fruit for a commercial use. At over 170 years of age, it is still far behind what is believed to be the world's oldest single grapevine, a

Žametovka Žametovka (also known as Ametovka and Kavčina črna) is a red Slovenian wine grape variety. This is one of the oldest domesticated grape varieties in Slovenia. Formerly it was popular in Styrian vineyards, and even more so, even today, known in ...

vine growing in

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

that was planted over 400 years ago. Still, while the Slovenian vine only produces enough fruit to make around 25 liters of wine that is not available for public sale, the Shiraz block of Turkey Flat vines produces several cases of wines for commercial use. The 2002

vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...

of the old vine Shiraz was even favorably reviewed by American wine critic Robert Parker who described the wine as having ''"glorious fruit with notes of crème de cassis, raspberry liqueur and licorice."'' The property is also home to old vine

Grenache Grenache (; ) or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry condi ...

plantings that are over 90 years old with the a block of Grenache vines that were first planted in 1920.

Wines and grape varieties

Turkey Flat produces a number of wines including a

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

blend from their old vine Shiraz, Mataro and

. They also produce

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

wines from those grapes, including ''rosés'', as well as wine from

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

, Marsanne and

Sémillon Sémillon () is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, mostly in French wine, France and Australian wine, Australia. Its thin skin and susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea, botrytis make it dominate the sweet wine region S ...

. A

fortified A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lat ...

"sticky" wine is produced from the Pedro Ximenez.T. Stevenson, ed. ''The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia (5th Edition)'' pg 652 Dorling Kindersley (2011)

References

External links

Turkey Flat Winery

Classified as Langtons emerging wine

James Halliday's, Wine Companion on Turkey Flat
{{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers Australian companies established in 1947 Food and drink companies established in 1947 Wineries in South Australia Barossa Valley

History

Old vines

Wines and grape varieties

See also

References

External links