Recent Ratings and Awards - July/August 2010 (Wine Companion 2011)

Coming soon!

Winter news and reviews!

(Originally posted on Thursday July 15, 2010. NB parts of this re-post have been edited)

July is here, and the past months have been very busy, in every way, for all of the people involved with the Collective. Pruning is well under way, some of our wines are being bottled, labels are being designed and in between, the jet-setting promotional work is well under way.

Tonight, Wayne from Smallfry Wines, and Steven from Kurtz Family Vineyards, are in Brisbane, probably sleeping by now, after an enjoyable evening at the 'Barossa in Boardshorts Event' held by Purple Palate and Bar Barossa.

Purple Palate Events

3rd Annual Barossa in Boardshorts 2010
July 14, 2010

On July 14 Barossan winemakers such as Domain Barossa, Smallfry, Thorn Clarke, Bethany, Linfield Road and many more will crowd into one room for our third annual Barossa in Boardshorts event.

Ticket price includes generous tasting and canapes.

Where: The Strand at Rugby Quay, Brisbane

When: Wednesday July 14th from 6.30pm

Tickets: $39 pp and strictly limited

Bookings: hayley@swws.com.au or ph: 1300 1GRAPE (1300 147 273)

Red White & Sparkling Ball 2010

July 17, 2010

Mater Foundation would like to invite you to be a part of Brisbane’s Premier Wine Event – the Red White & Sparkling Ball 2010. Your ticket includes a pre dinner wine tasting, a sumptuous three course meal, and a selection of unique wines from premium boutique Barossa wineries. Guests will also have the opportunity to meet the winemakers.

Dress: Black tie or lounge suit

When: Saturday July 17th from 6.30pm

Where: Pre dinner wine tasting at The Riverside Centre Lobby, 123 Eagle Street Brisbane Dinner at The Strand @ Rubgy Quay, Plaza Level, Rugby Quay, 123 Eagle Street Brisbane

Time: Pre-dinner drinks 6pm and Dinner 7.30pm — midnight

Tickets: $175 per person. Enjoy sitting with the winemakers, tables of 9 and 10 are available

Bookings: Book online materfoundation.org.au or download the PDF and return to Mater Foundation, 580 Stanley Street South Brisbane Qld 4101

For more information contact Kathy Russell (07) 3163 8000 kathy.russell@mater.org.au

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Also, it has been the time for new releases and subsequent sending of samples to the press so here are a few links to the most recent reviews that some of the Collective wines have received. We are all incredibly inspired by seeing such encouraging reviews for our wines. Keep a watch, though, as there are many more reviews to come over the coming months:) Apologies for posting the links only, but there are far too many for me to add individually.

Smallfry Wines:

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2010/05/2006-smallfry-eden-valley-riesling.html

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2010/05/2009-smallfry-barossa-valley-grenache.html

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2010/05/2009-smallfry-eden-valley-riesling.html

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2010/06/2009-smallfry-red-blend.html

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-smallfry-cabernet-grenache-rose.html

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2009/12/2007-smallfry-grenache-shiraz-mataro.html

http://www.ozwinereview.com/2010/05/smallfry-red-blend-2009.html

http://www.ozwinereview.com/2010/06/smallfry-grenache-2009.html

http://www.ozwinereview.com/2010/05/smallfry-red-blend-2009.html

Karra Yerta Wines:

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2009/12/karra-yerta-sparkling-shiraz-nv.html

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-karra-yerta-riesling.html

http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2010/05/2005-karra-yerta-barossa-shiraz.html

http://fullpour.com/2010/05/karra-yerta-bullfrog-flat-eden.html

http://fullpour.com/2010/04/karra-yerta-barossa-shiraz-200.html

http://fullpour.com/2009/12/karra-yerta-sparkling-shiraz-n.html

http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/entertainment/karra-yerta-nv-flaxmans-valley-sparkling-shiraz/1714780.aspx

Kurtz Family Vineyards:

http://www.ozwinereview.com/2010/04/kurtz-boundary-row-grenache-shiraz.html

Regards,
Marie Linke

Awards & Medals reminder

(Originally posted on Friday March 26, 2010 NB parts of this re-post have been edited)

AWARDS AND MEDALS

SMALLFRY WINES 2009 Eden Valley Rose' - BRONZE MEDAL @ 2009 Barossa Wine Show

SMALLFRY 2006 Eden Valley Riesling - GOLD MEDAL @ 2006 Australian Small Winemaker's Show

KURTZ FAMILY VINEYARDS 2007 Seven Sleepers Dry Red Blend - BRONZE MEDAL @ 2009 Barossa Wine Show

KURTZ FAMILY VINEYARDS 2006 Boundary Road Shiraz - BRONZE MEDAL @ 2009 Barossa Wine Show

KURTZ FAMILY VINEYARDS 2006 Boundary Road GSM - BRONZE MEDAL @ 2009 Barossa Wine Show

KURTZ FAMILY VINEYARDS 2005 Boundary Row Shiraz - BRONZE MEDAL @ 2008 Barossa Wine Show

KURTZ FAMILY VINEYARDS 2006 Seven Sleepers - BRONZE MEDAL @ 2008 Barossa Wine Show

KARRA YERTA WINES 2006 Shiraz Cabernet - SILVER MEDAL @ 2009 Barossa Wine Show

KARRA YERTA WINES 2009 Eden Valley Riesling - BRONZE MEDAL @ 2009 Canberra International Riesling Challenge

KARRA YERTA WINES 2005 Barossa Shiraz - SILVER MEDAL @ 2008 San Francisco International Wine Show

GUMPARA 2008 Old Vine Semillon - SILVER MEDAL @ 2008 Barossa Wine Show

GUMPARA 2006 Victor's Old Vine Shiraz - SILVER MEDAL @ 2008 Barossa Wine Show

Regards,
Marie Linke

Taking care of business - Collective Barossa is officially open!

(Originally posted on Tuesday January 19, 2009. NB parts of this re-post have been edited)

I am exceptionally pleased to announce that the Collective Barossa wine-tasting and sales shop was officially opened on Saturday January 16, 2010. What a day to start with, it also being the annual Hot Rod Show day at Tanunda. It was an incredible experience for us all.

The photos above show what we started with, and others show what we have achieved with the help of not only the Collective families but also many wonderful friends who were more than happy to work in forty degree plus temperatures to help us get ready to open. Good friends truly are priceless! The most heartfelt thanks go out to you all :)

At the time of writing this blog entry, I have just completed my fourth day of trading. Mark, James and Steve have all been assisting at various times, Wayne is coming in on Thursday while I attend a family funeral, and the customers are loving having the actual winemakers present to showcase and talk about their wines. It really is rather spectacular to see some of the interactions happening. Museum visitors stop to taste the wines, and wine-tasters are enticed to venture into the grand old building to see the incredible display of historic German items. It seems to be a good marriage. There are still a few bumps to be ironed out, and some loose ends to tie up (ie painting, shelving and curtains etc) but all in all, we are up and away and things are looking very positive after the many months of incredibly hard work.

Some of the feedback already received has exceeded all of our expectations and has been inspirational. I feel strongly that in the coming months, as we settle in and find our feet, literally, that not only will we prosper but that we will also provide our visitors with an exclusive and personal experience and make many new friends. It is indeed an exciting time. Exhausting, but as we all know, life is about reaping rewards from hard work, and one thing that Collective, and I (in regards to the setting up and licensing of the shop) have done, is work incredibly hard to bring our dream of a combined cellar door to reality which is now right here, happening, and receiving much appreciated support from the community and visitors alike.

We look forward to making many new friends and acquaintances in the coming months. Collective Barossa is open seven days a week from 11am to 5pm. Call me on 0438870178 for any enquiries regarding the tasting room or the Museum. The address is 47 Murray Street, at the southern end of Tanunda (opposite the Tanunda Courthouse).

For updated information on Collective Barossa, please follow my blog at http://collectivebarossa.blogspot.com

Regards,
Marie Linke

Exciting news for Collective!

(Originally posted on Saturday December 19, 2009 NB parts of this re-post have been edited)

Over the past four months I have been busy applying for a liquor licence to open a shop in Tanunda where all of the Collective wineries will have their wines permanently available for tasting and sale of sealed bottles. I'm thrilled to announce that after a few hiccups, my licence was granted yesterday and thus, the shop will be open very soon. The Collective Barossa shop is my own new business, and will be, in some ways, a separate entity to 'Collective'.

Collective Barossa's foundations are very much linked to the Collective philosophy, in that it will promote the wines of the four wineries, and all of the winery families will be, in some way, involved with the business. However, Collective will also have its own functions and events separate to those held in the shop. So whilst Collective and Collective Barossa are two separate things, we still fundamentally work together.

The shop will be situated in the front room of the Barossa Museum at the southern end of the main street of Tanunda. Formerly the old Telegraph Station, this heritage listed two storey historical building provides the perfect background for the Collective wineries. Both businesses will compliment each other i.e. the Museum houses one of the best historical displays in Australia of furniture, clothing, tools and knick-knacks from the early settlers of the Barossa in the mid eighteen hundreds, and Collective, as you already know, is a group of small family wineries whose ancestors were some of the original settlers of the Barossa. The concept is to tie both things together and provide tourists and locals with a total heritage experience.

As a bonus, it will also enable our mailing list customers, and other visitors to meet and speak with the families behind the Collective labels as they will be popping in regularly (aside from Vintage when it may be hard to find any of our winemakers for obvious reasons), and sometimes even taking over in the shop for the day here and there, as time permits, to give me a day off. We all feel that meeting our customers is an important part of our business philosophies and love nothing more than to have a chat about our wines and tell you the stories behind them. That is the heart and soul of the Barossa - the personalities in it, and the stories they tell, so we look forward to sharing some of these with you in the shop.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from us here at Collective. We look forward to having you visit us in 2010!

Regards,
Marie Linke

New article from 'The Mercury'

(Originally posted on Sunday November 8, 2009)
Here is a recent article in the Tasmanian newspaper The Mercury about Mark and Steve's recent visit to Tasmania for the Field Blend wine dinner.

Regards,
Marie Linke

Recent Ratings and Awards - September/October 2009

(Originally posted on Wednesday October 14, 2009)

The months of September and October have been incredibly busy again for all of The Collective. Mark has started summer pruning in the Gumpara vineyard, Wayne has gone to Brisbane this week for a function promoting Smallfry at Bar Barossa and James has been grafting vines in the Karra Yerta vineyard. Next week Mark (Gumpara) and Steve (Kurtz Family Vineyards) are off to Tasmania for a function with Field Blend, and Marie has just returned from Melbourne for a visit with Karra Yerta's Victorian distributor. Karra Yerta has also received some amazing reviews over the past month - you can read them here.

It seems that every week, one of the group is interstate which must be a good thing, and each winery is having much success with their respective sales. It is still a very hard market to be in but all of our products are standing in very good stead.

September was a huge month for most of us. Two local events kept us on our toes. The first was the Taste of Spring Eden Valley Riesling tasting held at the Eden Valley Institute where over seventy-five different Eden Valley Rieslings were on show to media, journalists and the wineries. What an incredible day. It was inspirational to not only see all of the rieslings laid out on the tables but also to taste the differences (and similarities) between the varying terroir of the region. A lunch catered by Gill Radford of Radford Wines complemented the wines perfectly. Smallfry and Karra Yerta provided three rieslings each at the tasting and they were all very well received.

Later on in the same week, it was the 2009 Barossa Wine Show. This is one of the state's most prestigious events and the following is a list of which Collective wines won medals:

Silver Medal (Class 16)
Karra Yerta Wines 2006 Shiraz Cabernet

Bronze Medal (Class 11)
Kurtz Family Vineyard 2006 Boundary Road Shiraz

Bronze Medal (Class 15)
Kurtz Family Vineyard 2006 Boundary Road GSM

Bronze Medal (Class 16)
Kurtz Family Vineyard 2007 Seven Sleepers Dry Red Blend

Bronze Medal (Class 6)
Smallfry Wines - 2009 Smallfry Eden Valley Rose'

POSTSCRIPT: Karra Yerta Wines also won a Bronze Medal for their 2009 Eden Valley Riesling at the 2009 Canberra International Riesling Challenge on October 18, 2009.

Regards,
Marie Linke

Budburst, books and barramundi...

(Originally posted on Sunday August 30, 2009)

The Collective group have spent the past months busily working in their respective vineyards; pruning and tie-ing on the vines, and Steve and Wayne have also been jet-setting around the East Coast of Australia doing winter sales trips. All in all, the month of August has been a very productive one for all of us in our own ways.

Although there's very little time to relax at this time of year, last week Mark and Steve managed to get away from it all on a week long fishing trip to the Northern Territory on a hunt for barramundi (the rest of us are awaiting a call to let us know when to pick up our share:). Hopefully they made it through unscathed and didn't manage to have any close encounters with the crocodiles whilst in their dinghy.

Wayne and Marie took a few hours out of their schedules to attend the official launch of Tyson Stelzer and Grant Dodd's new wine book "Barossa Wine Traveller" which was held at the Barossa Wine and Tourism Association on Friday 28th August. The book is a more personal guide to tasting the best of the Barossa with many quotes from the winemakers and all four of our Collective wineries are featured in it. To order please go to this link: Barossa Wine Traveller. At only $19.95 it has to be one of the best value wine books around! The photo below is of Tyson, Grant and Wayne at the launch.

Regards,
Marie Linke