Story about: John Geber, Vigneron, Barossa Valley

In 1998 a mere glimpse of the Chateau through the trees, while out cycling, intrigued John Geber so much that within 24 hours he decided to buy the building!

It's been a long and arduous journey for John Geber but 12 years of restoration are now complete and Chateau Tanunda is rated as one of the finest wineries in Australia.

Recent purchases have taken the vineyard holdings to 100ha situated in Bethany, Eden Valley, Tanunda and Vine Vale, with additional fruit sourced from a group of 30 loyal growers, including some descendants of the Barossa's original settlers.

The wines are made from hand-picked grapes, basket- pressed, and are neither fined nor filtered. There is a real emphasis on single-vineyard and single- subregional wines under the Terroirs of the Barossa label.

2010 saw the Chateau come of age when it scooped three major trophies with it's Everest wines at the International Wine and Spirit Competition.  It was awarded Best Shiraz in the World and best Single Estate red for the Grenache along with Best Australian Wine Producer Producer for 2010.

This is one of the most historically significant winery buildings in the Barossa Valley, built from blue stone quarried at nearby Bethany in the late 1880s.

It has been restored by the Geber family and a new basket press winery installed. Chateau Tanunda owns almost 100 ha of vineyards in Bethany, Eden Valley, Tanunda and Vine Vale, with additional fruit sourced from a group of thirty growers, including descendants of the Barossa's original settlers, covering the panoply of Barossan subregions. The wines are made from hand-picked grapes, basket- pressed, and are neither fined nor filtered. There is an emphasis on single-vineyard and single- subregion wines under the Terroirs of the Barossa label.

The grand building houses the cellar door and Barossa Small Winemakers Centre, offering wines made by boutique winemakers. The Chateau hosts conferences, conventions and weddings, catering for groups of up to 500, and there is a competition-standard croquet lawn with picturesque valley views. The acclaimed charity Masters Cricket match played biennially on the CCG (Chateau Cricket Ground) sees many of the world's greats grace its stage. Exports to the UK, Germany Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and China.

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Recent News:

Château Tanunda Grand Barossa Shiraz 2008 – Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of the World for 2011.

Coming in at number #33, Château Tanunda’s Grand Barossa Shiraz 2008 was listed as the highest ranked Australian wine by Wine Spectator’s annual review of the world’s best 100 wines for 2011. In addition, the 2008 Grand Barossa Shiraz ranked #4 in the Top 100 Outstanding Value Wines of the World for 2011 - And again was the highest ranked Australian wine.

This list is selected from more than 16,000 new releases which is then narrowed down based on four criteria: Quality, Value, Availability, and what Wine Spectator calls the X-Factor, defined as “the excitement generated by a rising-star producer, a benchmark wine or a significant milestone for a wine region’.  The final decisions, however, reflect the judgement and passion by the editors for the wines tasted.  Harvey Steiman gave the $18 wine 92 points and special recognition by naming it a ‘smart buy wine’.  Wine Spectator is the world’s leading and most authoritative wine magazine.

In October 2011 the annual tasting of Australian Shiraz wines in the World’s best wine magazine ‘Decanter’ attracted no less than 253 entries. The panel selected only five top wines, rating them five stars - and two of them were from Château Tanunda. 2009 Grand Barossa Shiraz along with the ‘Terroirs of the Barossa’ Greenock Shiraz.