Peter Lehmann: Stonewell Shiraz vertical and other select releases

During South Australia’s ruinous grape surplus of the late 1970s, Peter Lehmann famously put his neck on the line, buying grapes from Barossa growers whom his employer, Saltram, had dropped.

It was a huge risk for the winemaker and his wife Margaret, who called the fledgling negociant business they went on to found Masterson Barossa Vignerons, after the inveterate gambler Skye Masterson in the musical Guys and Dolls.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 14 Peter Lehmann wines, including a vertical of Stonewell Shiraz

Then again, by 1979, the 49-year-old winemaker had learned his craft from a Barossa legend, Yalumba’s Rudi Kronberger, before making his mark at Saltram.

The new business attracted major investment and, says senior winemaker at Peter Lehmann Wines (PLW) Brett Schutz, Peter (who died in 2013) ‘was a saviour of the Barossa; he led the industry and made our region viable and beautiful, so people really looked up to him’.

Shared values, family and community

Barossa born and bred like Lehmann (who gave his name to the business in 1982), Schutz was thrilled to join PLW in 2022. ‘With Shiraz running through its veins and a lasting legacy of pride and community, it’s somewhere you are proud to be,’ says the man who got married at the winery in 2005.

Lehmann’s loyalty to his community has been repaid in kind over the years, and not just in the precious Barossan grapes which, from the outset, have been supplied on a handshake (and still are today).

When one of PLW’s early major investors pulled out in 1992, growers rallied to help the Lehmanns save the company via a public float on the Australian Stock Exchange. The capital was subscribed almost overnight, with investment from 3,600 people, including Barossa growers, staff and friends.

In 2003, together with the Hess family (whose business had been selected as PLW’s US distributor), the Lehmanns saw off a takeover bid from the multinational drinks company, Allied Domecq. When the Hess Group sold its 86% shareholding following Peter Lehmann’s death, PLW was sold to Casella Family Brands in 2014, with Margaret’s blessing.

Managing director John Casella recalls: ‘Margaret and I often sat down and discussed our shared values of family and community, and these conversations provided the assurance that the brand would continue to keep its core values and return to Australian family ownership. It has been both a personal delight and an honour to be able to uphold the family’s enduring legacy, ensuring that the Lehmann name remains at the forefront of Australian winemaking and maintains its grower relationships.’

Little black jewels

The strength of PLW’s enduring grower relationships and the quality of the resulting fruit go a long way to explaining why Stonewell, the company’s flagship Shiraz, has been made every year since 1987 (when it was called Peter Lehmann Show Dry Red). It was even produced in 2011, a notoriously wet year, with leading Australian wine critic James Halliday remarking of the wine: ‘You would never pick the vintage in an options game [a blind tasting], its black fruits are perfectly ripe.’

Over the years, about 60 of PLW’s 80 growers from across the Barossa Valley have provided top-grade Shiraz for Stonewell. While originally centred around the hamlet of Stonewell (hence the name), these days the fruit tends to come from the northwest of the Barossa, especially Lights Pass and Ebenezer, although there are no hard and fast rules – Stonewell was sourced from just two vineyards in 2011 and only three in the cool 2017 vintage.

Casting the net wide for, as Lehmann put it, Stonewell’s ‘little black jewels’ has guaranteed consistency and the requisite colour, depth and mouthfeel. You need small berries, though; those tasting like red wine gum sweets do not, observed Schutz, have the ageing potential of riper black fruit.

Schutz dubs Stonewell’s distinctive tannin architecture ‘Christmas tree tannins’. He explained: ‘You build a foundation with some really muscular, rich tannins and envelope that with mid-weight tannin. These provide the structure and weight, then you coat it with tinsel – the fine grain and finesse.’ The wine’s densely layered but long, ripe tannins indeed stood out and contrasted strikingly with the velvety, fruit-forward style of 8 Songs Shiraz 2017.

Power and grace

The tasting also highlighted the shift from partial barrel fermentation and ageing in sweeter, aromatic American oak, to subtler French oak hogsheads, which started in 1996. Since 2012, exclusively French oak has been used and time in barrel has reduced from a giddy 30 months to as little as 12.

Another step change which reflected Casella’s major investment took place in the barrel hall in 2015, specifically in the upgrading of its temperature and humidity control. The old barrel cellar relied on foil insulation and regular rotation of barrels that were stacked six high. ‘The angels were happy in those days,’ quips Schutz, referring to the loss of wine through evaporation during ageing, the so-called ‘angel’s share’.

The dividends for freshness and precision, especially fruit definition, were readily apparent in Stonewell 2016 and 2017 (two contrasting vintages). Compared with the monolithic 2008, I anticipate that both vintages will age with power and grace.

Released five years after vintage for optimal ageing, Stonewell is broachable, but the vertical underscored its capacity for ageing – the 1989 in magnum showed well during the tasting and was holding superbly a couple of hours later.

As if that is not testament enough to Lehmann’s winemaking talent, the Semillon he named after his wife Margaret has bagged more gold medals than the best long distance runner. One does not expect a Barossa Valley white to age comfortably for 18 years, as the Margaret Semillon 2005 has, and it held its own within this remarkable Stonewell vertical.

See tasting notes and scores of 14 Peter Lehmann wines, including a vertical of Stonewell Shiraz

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