Christie Schulz, Turkey Flat Vineyards, Barossa Valley, South Australia Turkey Flat is more than just a vineyard and home of the best Barossa wines, it is a family business that forms a vital part of the region’s rich cultural history and heritage
It was here, on the banks of Tanunda Creek where bush turkeys once roamed, that pioneer Silesian settler Johann Friedrich August Fiedler planted the first Shiraz vines in 1847. His vines flourished and the land – Section One, in the Hundred of Moorooroo – was bought in 1865 by Gottlieb Ernst Schulz, a successful butcher who established a thriving retail business among the vines
Butchering developed into dairying, but the vineyards were always kept, and eventually transformed the historic bluestone butchers shop into the cellar door and heart of their Turkey Flat wine business, and made sure that the vines that Fiedler planted so long ago, now gnarled and twisted, are still a vital part of the process
And with good reason, for it is the intense, concentrated fruit from these ancient vines that set Turkey Flat wines apart and have made them sought after the world over. With thanks to Susie O’Connor, Classic Drinks for arranging this visit www.classicdrinks.ie