Editors notes
Robert O’Callaghan’s evocative Rockford Basket Press Shiraz is a tribute to the Barossa’s 19th and early 20th-century heritage. Made from grapes sourced from 60 to 140-year-old dry-grown vineyards (most from independent growers) across a range of Barossa soils, altitudes and micro-climates, the wine represents a rare and important post-colonial Australian aesthetic.
This soft and medium bodied style, with an earthy quality showing through bottle age, echoes the landscape of the Barossa and references the great mid 20th-century wines of legendary winemaker Colin Preece. Labour-intensive winemaking practices, a culture of craftsmanship and meticulous attention to detail culminate in one of Australia’s greatest and most-loved wines
Details
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Light (Light)Full (Full)
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Low Tannin (Low Tannin)Tannic (Tannic)
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- Blackberry
- Blueberry
- Pepper
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Palate
- Blackberry
- Fruit Cake
- Tobacco
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Red Meat
Critic Scores & reviews
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James Halliday's Wine Companion
95"The beautiful label, traditional brown bottle, and the wine within, all have an allure. It's the richness and depth of the tannin structure - velvety and ripe, the suppleness on the palate, the savoury thread with coffee grounds, pepper, bitumen and yes oak but everything in its place plus its heady perfume with florals and red plums."
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Huon Hooke
94"Deep youthful purple-red. Fresh young berry, mint, plum aromas, fresh and fruit driven. Full bodied, bright and concentrated. Superb, still a bit young. Excellent wine with great potential."
Other vintages
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Locations
Australia
Australia's wine industry is a thriving part of the country's economy, contributing significantly to employment, production, export, and tourism. In fact, the industry is the fourth-largest wine exporter in the world, shipping out 760 million liters of wine to countries including France, Italy, Spain, and the UK. One of the key factors contributing to Australia's success as a "New World" wine producer is the formal export and marketing of its wines through Wine Australia.
Australia's wine regions are scattered across the south and southeast, with almost every state boasting its own vineyards. Victoria, for example, is home to an impressive 21 wine regions. Some of the most famous wine regions in Australia include Margaret River, Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Eden Valley, Clare Valley, Hunter Valley, Yarra Valley, and local regions to New South Wales such as Cowra, Southern Highlands, and Mudgee.
Australian winemakers are known for producing a diverse range of grape varieties, with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir being among the most popular. They tend to focus on producing wines that are ripe, fruit-forward, and easy to drink, using modern winemaking techniques and equipment such as stainless steel tanks and temperature-controlled fermentation.
With its bold, fruit-driven flavors and reputation for quality and diversity, Australian wine has become a popular choice for wine lovers around the world. And with such a broad range of wine regions and grape varieties, there's something for every palate to enjoy.
South Australia
If you like Australian wine, then you probably like South Australia wine. The rich reds produced there put Australia on the wine-making map of the world. With over 40% of the country's vineyards, South Australia can rightfully call itself the wine state.
Wines are produced in several regions throughout the state, though many are naturally grouped together, like Barossa and Eden Valleys, only 15 minutes apart. They include such regions as Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Eden Valley, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills, Kangaroo Island, Langhorne Creek, The Limestone Coast, McLaren Vale and Wrattonbully to name but a few!
Barossa Valley boasts some of the oldest vines in Australia dating back to 1843 and produces some of the world's finest Shiraz, whilst the 'terra rossa' soils of Coonawarra is most suited to producing outstanding Cabernet Sauvignons. If you're a fan of Riesling, Clare Valley is a great place to explore and for a Maritime climate not dissimilar to parts of the Italian coastline, seek out the wines from McLaren Vale.
Barossa Valley
The Barossa Valley is about an hour and a half drive to the North of Adelaide, in South Australia and is the oldest wine region in the country, founded by German settlers. The region can be credited with putting Australian wine on the world wine map, thanks to Shiraz, which thrives in the warm climate (though Hunter Valley Semillon also contributed.)
For many years traditionalist wine makers thought the grape variety was best suited to the cooler climates of the Rhone Valley and that the variety would cook in the warmth of the Australian sun. Although South Australian Shiraz is a bigger, beefier wine than its southern French counterpart Syrah, no one can deny the region's propensity to produce world-class wines.
Not only Shiraz is cultivated in Barossa Valley, with other red varieties such as Grenache, Mourvedre (Mataro) and to a lesser extent Cabernet Sauvignon. The white varieties that thrive best seem to be Semillon, Chardonnay and Rhone varietals like viognier, Marsanne and Roussane.
The Valley has many subregions which all have unique terroirs. Seppeltsfield, Marananga, Greenock are to name but a few. With a huge number of wineries in such a small area and a host of accommodation, the region is very popular for wine tourism. In the words of Master of Wine Jancis Robinson, the Barossa Valley became "Australia's quintessential wine region."
About the brand Rockford
Rockford Wines was established in 1984 and is located in Tanunda, South Australia. Robert O'Callaghan and Ben Radford are the winemakers. Robert O’Callaghan acknowledged at an early stage the future of regional definition, the importance of heritage and the preservation of both physical and viticultural resources, and is one of the most important characters in today’s Australian winemaking.
The fruit, from 60-140 year-old vines, is sourced from local growers in the Barossa including around Kalimna, Ebenezer, Moppa Springs, the Eden Valley and Central, which gives tremendous colour, power and richness to the fruit.
Two retailers in Sydney, and one each in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth sell Rockford wines, along with a few restauraunts. The Rockford Basket Press Shiraz is very scarce though and is likely to be unavailable. Since its release in 1984, The Basket Press Shiraz has been produced every vintage, and represents what Rockford is all about more than any other wine. Rockford was also ranked No.1 on TripAdvisor among 22 attractions in Tanunda.
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