The wines of Glaetzer, Barossa, Australia

Ben Glaetzer’s wines from his family venture have become highly sought after. ‘There have been some issues with a secondary and tertiary market’, admits Ben, where he sells his wines and then they immediately change hands for much higher prices – the issue is, if you charge market price for your wines that are very highly sought after, people complain, but if you don’t, some flipper reaps the rewards for your hard work. As a result he produced the Godolphin to take some heat off trophy wine Amon Ra, but this gets traded just as much. ‘If we put prices up we’re the ones that seem greedy, but if we restrict allocations we get accused of being non-supportive’, he says. As a result, these wines are now concentrated on the on-trade. 

see also: interview with Ben Glaetzer

Glaetzer Wallace 2004 Barossa Valley
70% Shiraz, 30% Grenache. Smooth supple fruit is quite elegant. Ripe and full with a spicy edge. It’s not heavy, but retains freshness. Very good+ 89/100

Glaetzer Bishop 2004 Barossa Valley
Nice weight and concentration here to this full, spicy red. There’s lovely structure to the fruit. This is nice: big, but vivid, rich and fresh. Not overblown. Very good/excellent 91/100

Glaetzer Godolphin 2004 Barossa Valley
70% Shiraz, 30% Cabernet. This undergoes malolactic on skins, and in all the wine spends 3 months on skins! If you do this you need to be careful about volatile acidity, and a blanket of CO₂ is needed once the cap sinks after fermentation stops. The goal is to get savoury tannic structure. This wine has a smooth, supple, open nose. This leads to a lovely soft, elegant palate with ripe, seamless fruit backed up by lovely supple tannins. Long spicy finish. Very good/excellent 93/100

Glaetzer Shiraz 2004 Barossa Valley
Full, spicy, brooding chocolatey nose with ripe dark fruits. The palate is rich, smooth and ripe. It’e very big, but at the same time still fresh and alive, which is the secret of Ben’s winemaking. Nice stuff. Very good/excellent 92/100

Glaetzer Amon Ra 2004 Barossa Valley
Smooth, pure, lush chocolatey nose is complex and perfumed, with a spicy edge. The palate is concentrated, smooth and lush with ripe forward fruit but also lovely elegant spicy tannins. Brilliant structure here. ‘This is pretty much exactly what I want to do’, says Ben. Excellent 95/100

Wines tasted 01/05
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