It wasn’t much more than a year ago that I first took Veritas wine seriously. It’s a package that could easily fool you. The beauty of Veritas is that you know the image drinkers will leave it alone. A visit to the winery would leave you none the wiser, either. But beneath the homely, slightly apologetic Veritas brand lies a proud, competitive family heritage in wine and a burning desire to make a name based around quality wine. Present-day custodian of Veritas is Rolf Binder jnr, whose father, Rolf Binder snr, a Hungarian emigrant, established the winery in 1955, in an old trucking warehouse in a backstreet of Tanunda called Langmeil Rd. Rolf takes responsibility for red wine production while his sister, Christa Binder-Deans, is white winemaker. Rolf Binder’s reds most capture my attention today. They owe their qualities to the same commitment to the unique quality of old dryland vineyards that Steven Henschke stands for, plus a traditional means of making which hasn’t altered in decades. Apart, that is, from the introduction of some pretty smart new small oak for Rolf’s best parcels. Underneath Rolf Binder’s genuine welcome and enthusiasm for his wine lurks a very smart business mind. Veritas is actually better known in the UK and Germany than it is in Melbourne, where its wines are only now available through retail for the first time in ages. Binder reckons wine shows are a waste of time and modestly says it’s his vineyards that create his wine. So, since he crops as low as anyone can afford to, to make more wine he needs more vineyards. The 60 acres of Veritas vineyard is presently being converted to 80. The red grapes available to Rolf Binder are mainly the traditional Barossa red varieties of shiraz and mourvedre, with grenache and cabernet playing second violin. Mourvedre, known in a previous lifetime as mataro, provides the intense pepper and sweet dark fruits of most of Rolf Binder’s red wines. The benchmark Veritas red is an unashamedly rustic blend of shiraz and grenache pressings known as Bull’s Blood, whose label would do it great business in a steakhouse like Vlado’s. It’s a chunky, juicy and tannic mouthful with concentrated fruit borne of low crops. It matures like a favourite. Limited resources of old vineyard fruit tend to restrict the Bull’s Blood to a coveted 500 cases. The Binder duo produce an early-drinking range called Christa-Rolf, comprising a buttery, lemony semillon-chardonnay blend with assertive American oak and a softer, earlier-drinking mix of shiraz and grenache. For those finding the prices of premium Australian shirazes creeping steadily out of rifle range, Rolf Binder’s Hanisch Shiraz is the perfect answer. An uncompromisingly concentrated and spicy Barossa red cropped from vines about a century old just under two tonnes per acre, it offers ripe, gamey flavours and an underlying tight-knit astringency. It’s priced well below its worth. While it may not be easy to find some Veritas wines, you’ll be well and truly challenged to get hold of Rolf Binder’s flagship: a wine principally designed for export, known as the Malcolm Shiraz. It will retail around $80 in Australia and it’s worth it. From a tiny 7 acre vineyard in Marananga where it crops below 1.5 tonnes per acre, it reveals all the concentrated, essential intensity of the true custodians of the Barossa.
