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Discover Australia’s best kept wine secret, discover the temptation of Tollana
Tollana – often referred to as ‘Australia’s best kept wine secret’, concentrates entirely on premium wines from selected vineyards. In 1888 when Tollana was first established, the production of Brandy was the main focus. It stayed that way for over 60 years, but taking advantage in the shifting trends towards table wines, Tollana eventually began to diversify into premium table wines. Years later, wine lovers throughout Australia are grateful that they did!
Eden Valley plays a key role in the sourcing of grapes for Tollana wines. Situated high in the Barossa Ranges, Eden Valley has been the basis for most blends, producing wines with intense flavour and distinct varietal fruit characters. More recently Adelaide Hills has come to the fore, delivering wines of finesse and tight structure. Blends of both regions produce a superb balance of fruit intensity and delicate structure – thus enabling the wines to age gracefully for many years. Tollana wines are prolific award winners on the wine show circuit – in fact in just the last twenty years, Tollana has been awarded in excess of 59 Gold medals!
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The driving forces of the Tollana range are the outstanding reds. Tollana TR222 Cabernet Sauvignon is an absolute classic – an award-winning, elegant and full-bodied style, reflecting the superior quality of Eden Valley grapes. This celebrated wine is produced from the best parcels of fruit at Tollana’s 60-hectare Woodbury vineyard. Tollana TR16 Shiraz is no less accomplished. This elegant, full-flavoured wine has been awarded many times over and exhibits spicy Shiraz fruit combined beautifully with sweet oak.
So what’s in a name? With a heritage stretching back three decades, the Tollana TR222 Cabernet Sauvignon is a well-established name with Australian wine lovers. But where did the name come from? The first vintage was produced over 30 years ago when TST/Tollana were large Brandy and fortified makers. The winemaker at the time decided to make a dry red for the export market. In those days the reds were stored in old oak vats for two to three years before bottling.
After much deliberation, a blend of Shiraz and Cabernet was selected and bottled from the 1969 vintage in 1972. The bottling code was TR222. This came from TR – for Tollana Red, while the numbers represented the fact that it was bottled in February, the second month of the year and it was the 22nd wine of the year to be packaged – hence TR222. A similar story exists for TR222's stable mate TR16 Shiraz. Back in 1971 it was the 6th wine bottled in January and had the code TR16.
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"Tollana survived a near-death experience during the turbulent days of the Rosemount management of Southcorp; where it will ultimately fit in the Fosters scheme of things remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Tollana is back in business producing Riesling, Viognier, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon!" -James Halliday
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