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 Robert Owen Clarke (born 1949), known as Oz Clarke, is a British wine writer, actor, television presenter and broadcaster. Early life Clarke's parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He is of Irish descent and was brought up Roman ...

as one of the "

cult wine Cult wines are wines for which dedicated groups of committed enthusiasts will pay large sums of money. Cult wines are often seen as trophy wines to be collected or as investment wine to be held rather than consumed. Because price is often seen ...

s" 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 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 skin contact method. ...

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 (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

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 Goulburn Valley wine region is a wine region in the state of Victoria in Australia. It is part of the Central Victoria zone and roughly corresponds to the Goulburn Valley tourist and government region. The first vineyards and winery were establis ...

Tahbilk Tahbilk Winery is a historic Australian winery with National Trust certification. It is located north of Melbourne between the townships of Seymour, Victoria, Seymour and Nagambie, Victoria, Nagambie in the Nagambie Lakes (wine), Nagambie Lake ...

, 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 A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

for several generations. It was named Turkey Flat because of the flocks of

Australian Bustard The Australian bustard (''Ardeotis australis'') is a large ground dwelling bird which is common in grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It stands at about high, and its wingspan is ...

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 a 160 years of age, it is still far behind what is believed to be the world's oldest single grapevine, a Žametovka vine growing in

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

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

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 Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

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 conditi ...

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 standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

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 Lebanon' ...

Marsanne Marsanne is a white wine grape, most commonly found in the Northern Rhône region. It is often blended with Roussanne. In Savoie the grape is known as ''grosse roussette''. Outside France it is also grown in Switzerland (where it is known as ' ...

and

Sémillon Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, mostly in France and Australia. Its thin skin and susceptibility to botrytis make it dominate the sweet wine region Sauternes AOC and Barsac AOC. History The Sémill ...

. A

fortified A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

"sticky" wine is produced from the

Pedro Ximenez Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

.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