Plus, a finalist nomination for its green creds on the same night!
September 15th – Eco-conscious Barossa Valley winery, RedHeads wines, has been awarded the TROPHY for BEST RED WINE – Other Varieties at the 2023 Barossa Wine Show. This is the first release of a straight varietal Touriga Nacional, “Touriga” by RedHeads, crafted from its own vineyard planted in 2019.
On a night that meant being in two places at once, RedHeads was also nominated as a finalist for its green initiatives in the small-medium winery category at the 2023 South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) Awards. While crowned winner at these awards in 2021, RedHeads was a notable runner-up this year.
RedHeads Wine was established in 2002 in McLaren Vale by ‘liberating’ fruit from growers who were tired of seeing their prized grapes being blended away into big-name wines. Wines were made in a make-shift winery converted from an old Indian restaurant, called ‘RedHeads’ by corporate winemakers after hours.
Today, RedHeads has its own custom-built, certified organic, sustainable, winery located in the Barossa Valley. It also has its own dedicated team of winemakers, and its own vineyard!
Replacing some old Chardonnay vines, the team decided to plant Touriga to solve the problem of sourcing grapes for two of its prized wines, ‘Night of the Living Red’ and ‘Return of the Living Red’. Three years later, the finished wine looked so good they made a single-vineyard, single varietal wine which has gone on to win this prestigious award.
The vineyard, while mostly Shiraz, has just seven rows planted to the Portuguese variety. The finished wine is a ‘new-age’ style, medium-bodied and fruit driven with notes of Turkish delight and cherry.
General Manager and winemaker Alex Trescowthick is delighted by the new accolades.
“We planted Touriga to fill a need, but we also knew that the variety was nicely suited to the block due to its sandy soils over clay and we were confident it would deliver a style that would suit our existing wines.” Alex said.
“When the finished wine looked so good, we decided to bottle a small portion as a single varietal. Our new, winery was designed exactly for this type of wine, small-batch, minimal intervention, varietal expressions that reflect the site the grapes are from.” He continued.
“We are proud to win an award for our Touriga, but we are also delighted to be recognised for our sustainability efforts. We hope this nomination at the SAWIA’s plus our existing ‘green’ awards, can highlight to new wineries, what can be done as a wine business to become more sustainable.”
RedHeads by name and green heads by nature.
For further information on RedHeads Wine and on its green initiatives, please visit www.redheadswine.com or click here.
For further information on the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA), please visit https://www.winesa.asn.au/ or click here.
Follow RedHeads on Instagram by clicking here or by visiting www.instagram.com/
Follow RedHeads on Linked In by clicking here or by visiting https://www.linkedin.com/
About RedHeads
RedHeads Wine was established by Tony Laithwaite in McLaren Vale in 2002 in an old restaurant, called RedHeads! The site was used by moonlighting winemakers to break free from the corporate shackles to come and make “real” wines, the way they wanted to. Tiny batches, hands-on, interesting blends, and big flavours. Now RedHeads’ roots are firmly planted in the Barossa, and it has a custom-built sustainable winery built from scratch in 2019 and its own dedicated team of winemakers.
Since opening its new winery in 2019, RedHeads has been awarded the UK Drinks Business Green Award for Water Management in 2019, was given a special commendation for Power Management at the same awards in 2020 and picked up the Environmental Excellence Award by the South Australian Wine industry Association in 2021. In 2022, RedHeads received its NASAA organic certification.
RedHeads by name and green heads by nature.
