Peter Lehmann’s name is so inextricably linked with the rich traditions of Barossa winemaking that his mere presence at a wine event has the impact of a television commercial. While working at Yalumba and Saltram in the 1950s and 1960s he helped to create an enduring legacy of some of the greatest ever Barossa reds. His company, originally called Masterson Wines, was established in the late 1970s so he could continue to foster the interests of the region’s growers with whom his history has been linked for five generations. Now in supposed retirement from hands-on winemaking, he retains an essential role as director of the public company of Peter Lehmann Wines Limited and still manages to enjoy himself liaising with growers and the company’s winemaking team. What about the Barossa is most special to you? It’s in the blood. I’m fifth generation and I’ve travelled to lots of places, yet I’m always agreeably surprised when I return. I enjoy its four distinct seasons. I love working with soils, vines, orchards and gardens and would hate to live in the city. I’m from peasant stock and I guess I’m reverting to type. I’ve enjoyed seeing the Barossa achieve such recognition in the last 10-15 years. I’ve never seen the vines standing so proud and tall. It fills me with delight to see such obvious pride and prosperity in the Barossa. What is behind the Barossa’s re-emergence? It’s a matter of exposure and recognition of its quality. The biggest denigrators of the Barossa 10-15 years ago were its own winemakers, who didn’t give the fruit the opportunity it needed. We were then going through the cold climate phase when anything from anywhere warm was shunned, but we’ve stuck it through and got results. The intelligentsia of the UK wine trade liked the wines and recommended to their readers and listeners, who liked them. They enjoyed the bigness and the fruit, their very distinctive and Australian and very Barossa qualities. Are you still looking to the qualities of the Barossa’s sub-regions to improve your wines? The Barossa has been developing the identity of its sub-regions for forty years. Where we would once club together three or four areas down the western side, we now keep them separate. All things being equal, a pattern does emerge. Stonewell Shiraz is sourced entirely from western parts of the Barossa, pretty well in the Stonewell district. If you go across to the Eden Valley, the wines are finer. They’re also good, but lack that bigness and excessive fruit we get from the western side. In reality the whole Australian industry is paying more attention to subregions today. It is after all an elementary fact that great wines are made in vineyard, not the winery. How was shiraz made during your days at Saltram? We fermented the wines rather differently. We used only open fermenters which were headed down. Today we have static Potter fermenters which we don’t head down but pump over twice a day. We have all the refrigeration we need, which is mainly used for whites, but we don’t want our reds to ferment too hot. Back at Saltram how long we fermented a wine would often depend on how much fruit we had to process and in what sort of a hurry we were. With new fermenters today we’re able to give the wines an extra 2-3 days on skins. The extra contact and maceration through pumping over helps to extract all the beautiful flavours. There’s no doubt those extra few days give more intense wine. When Dalgety bought Saltram in 1973 we got a six new oak barrels and thought it was Christmas. Today we spend $1 million a year on oak! Are the modern Australian shirazes the best yet? I think they are. I reckon there’s a fluky element to the really great wines of the past. They didn’t have the knowledge or the equipment and one wonders what the likes of Maurice O’Shea could have done today – now that would be an interesting exercise. I think the wines are better than even they were ten years ago – if you don’t learn something each year you are a nong. We think we are continuing to learn. I recently dragged out of the cellar a couple of Barossa shirazes from 1956 and 1973, a 1971 shiraz cabernet and a 1975 straight cabernet for a group of English ex-cricketers, including Bob Willis, who were reasonably knowledgeable on wine. They were absolutely staggered with the longevity and apparent youthfulness of the wines, guessing they were 15-20 years younger than they actually were. The other day I opened a bottle of the first Masterson red, which was made in 1978 without any oak. At twenty years old it’s still fresh and lively. At that age they don’t really miss new oak. Other than Barossa shiraz, which Australian wines do you enjoy most today? There are so many good wines that they’re too numerous to mention. I’m very impressed with the Show Reserve Shiraz made by Houghtons from Frankland River fruit and some of the Margaret River’s reds are showing the potential that was always there. I’m very fond of some Victorian wines from the Pyrenees, but as I’m more of a drinker of the bigger styles I don’t get quite as enthusiastic about cooler climate wines which lack generosity of flavour. I also put the wonderful wines of Clare and McLaren Vale way ahead of Coonawarra, particularly with shiraz. You were Monarch of Australian Sparkling Red in 1998. Does Australia need its own wine? Sparkling red is a lot of fun. I will be even more interested next year when we release our second wine. We’ll have around a thousand cases each year. It will come from good base wines, including some fruit of Stonewell quality. Besides, I’ve nearly run out of 1946 Great Western and need something to replace it with.
