Barossa Valley Estate
Barossa Valley, South Australia
Barossa Valley Estate (B.V.E.) was established as a co-operative of third and fourth generation grape-growers over twenty years ago. It was an inspired venture, which not only guaranteed supply, but also some of the best quality fruit from all three sections of the valley, including grapes from the Barossa's oldest and most revered vines in the north of the region.
Unsurprisingly, it's a truly community-focused winery, with everyone working together towards the common goal of producing the best wines possible.
Not content with just producing the best the Barossa has to offer, the winery is committed to maintaining the delicate balance between wine production and the needs of the environment. They're busy moving the winery towards a carbon neutral status, with programmes in place for the re-use of stored rainwater, efficient building materials and continuous tree planting nearby to suck up the CO2 emissions produced during the 8 weeks of vintage.
"One small, beautiful valley. One big, beautiful world!" Stuart Bourne
B.V.E. is the home of the iconic E&E Black Pepper Shiraz (pepper being one of the classic spicy aromas associated with that grape). This highly acclaimed wine has scored 90+ points in Wine Spectator for the last nine years running. Each vintage, growers in the co-operative compete to see whose will be the grapes chosen for inclusion. The decision is made strictly on quality every year and previous years' results mean nothing!
Those that don't quite make the very highest grade are used for the Ebenezer Shiraz and then the E Minor Shiraz, both of these wines thereby delivering excellent quality at their respective price points. And for a Shiraz with a difference, they even do a mouth-watering sparkling version of the E&E Black Pepper Shiraz, not to mention a typically big and flavoursome Chardonnay.
Each is a fantastic ad in a glass for one of Australia's classic wine regions. As winemaker Stuart Bourne says, it's "One small, beautiful valley. One big, beautiful world." We'll drink to that.
