Winery & Vintage Info
In 1853, the Kalleske vineyard and farm was established at Greenock in the Barossa’s North-West. For 97 years horses were used to work the vineyard and land. This changed in 1950 when a new type of horse-power arrived on the property, a ‘Fordson’ Major tractor. The Fordson soon became a valuable and integral part of vineyard and farm activities. Fordson Zinfandel (a.k.a. Primitivo) is a single vineyard wine that’s been grown, vintaged and matured on the Kalleske property. Vigilant grape growing combined with traditional winemaking and maturation in seasoned French and American oak hogsheads has resulted in a flavoursome varietal Zinfandel displaying classic structure and richness typical of the Kalleske vineyard.
The 2022 vintage was excellent. Winter was significantly wetter than average getting the vines off to a brilliant start leading into Spring which was cool with median rainfall. Summer was mild and dry apart from rain on the last day. Autumn remained mild with generally perfect mid-20s weather combined with cool nights ensuring steady even ripening across all varieties. The 2022 yields were good and the quality is great, a classic Barossa vintage displaying rich flavours with fine balance.
Fordson is a single vineyard Zinfandel from the Kalleske property. The hand- pruned vines are low-yielding and are grown in shallow, sandy loam soil over superb deep red clay.
The grapes were harvested on April 8th and pressed fifteen days later, with pumpovers employed twice daily whilst on skins. Following pressing the wine was matured in seasoned hogsheads for a year prior to bottling.
