About Rosedale - the Winery
Rosedale
Rosedale Wines takes its name from a small settlement, originally called Rosenthal, in the southwest of Barossa Valley
Barossa is Australia’s most famous wine region, renowned for producing some of the best Shiraz (Syrah) wines in the world. Rosedale Wines specialises in producing wines from the western Barossa Valley, with emphasis on Shiraz and Rhone style blends. The estate vineyards begin near Rosedale just to the northwest of Lyndoch and stretch along the Barossa boundary to Greenock. Soils vary significantly, but in the Rosedale area they are generally shallow, with broken shale through red brown earths and Terra Rossa. The ancient soils and Mediterranean style climate typically produce low yields of small berries with thick skins. Vineyards at Lyndoch and Rosedale, south of Gomersal Road, produce modest yields and the sites demand harvesting within a small window of opportunity, which allow for lifted ripe vibrant black currant characters, verging on casis with solid just ripe tannins allowing a wine of inky colour and powerful structure to be made.
The vision at Rosedale is to become recognised for producing premium quality wines at affordable prices. When Cat Amongst The Pigeons received critical acclaim from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, the winemaking team knew they were doing something right. This success was followed with the 2007 Nine Lives being awarded a Blue Gold Award, Top 100 Wine and Kemenys Perpetual Trophy for Best Value Dry Red Table Wine at the 2009 Sydney International Wine Competition. Since then, the accolades have continued and Rosedale Wines is attracting attention from all over the world. Rosedale truly offer wines of intense flavour, rich character and great structure.
All vineyards are planted to 3 metres rows and vines are 1.8m apart giving 1853 vines per ha. Vines are drip irrigated and irrigation use is low varying from 0.1 – 1ML/ha depending on desired wine end use and or soil moisture holding characteristics. With a diverse range of growing conditions, there are varied ripening dates to harvest fruit at its optimal flavour profile.
Rosedale can produce small berried, firm tannin styles of wine, as well as more generous fruit flavoured wines showing great elegance. All exhibit great colour. Rosedale undertake environmental and sustainability initiatives and work to maintaining Freshcare accreditation.
The vineyards grow annual cover crops, mostly of Triticale to assist in weed suppression, erosion control, soil moisture control and vineyard access. Where vines grow in low raw soils, mounding is employed to increase moisture reserves, while in high vigour situations cover crops are allowed to hay off.
Rosedale enjoy the enviable position of holding and growing solid relationships with the best Barossa growers. There are slight changes in the winemaking from each vineyard to get the best outcome for the wine. The Chook Shed vineyard in southern Barossa is typically cooler, with deeper soil profiles and water holding capacity. These terroirs are slightly more vigorous and produce fruit which has slightly larger berries. The Cat Amongst the Pigeons Shiraz is handled slightly differently, a more structured wine with elongated flavour profile and complexity delivering a wine which is truly unique to the western ridge’s various sub regional Barossa vineyards. Lyndoch Shiraz, with slightly larger berries will be honed to result in lifted and juicy fruit frontal palate flavours which combine well with French oak maturation. Rosedale Shiraz, grown on tough, shallow Terra Rossa soils produces smaller berries.
The Rosedale fruit is fermented cool and the cap is well worked, matured with subtly toasted American oak results in wine which is inky in colour with dark briary, tarry fruits, even weighted and powerful line of structure. Shiraz from Seppeltsfield produces fruit which make wine of a powerful structure, but retains elegance through vibrancy of character and depth of flavour with solid mid palate weight of dark black and blue fruits with terrific length. Combined, these wines offer the ability to blend the various positive attributes that each vineyard site posses. With such esteemed neighbours as Torbreck, Two Hands, Rolf Binder and Hentley Farm, it is clear that Rosedale possess jewels of vineyards which deliver wines of exceptional quality and unique character.
