The second season of Tyson Stelzer's 'People of the Vines' TV series wraps up on Channel Ten this week, concluding with one of Australia's oldest winemaking families, the Henschke family. The final episode will air on Saturday, 30 April at 1pm, marking the end of a six week exploration of Australia's most famous wine region, the Barossa.

Peter Nixon Peter Nixon, Head of Dan Murphy's Wine Panel in the new series of People of the Vines


Over the last five episodes, People of the Vines has paid a visit to Dutschke Wines, Peter Lehmann, Jacob's Creek, St Hallett and Yaluma, delving into their histories within the region, and futures, as they face the challenge of the most recent vintage. All the previous episodes are available online.

Alongside Tyson for the first time in this season is Dan Murphy's Wine Panel, including Peter Nixon, Tony Titheridge, Lance Eerhard and Andrew Caillard. In each episode, the Wine Panel tastes the wines from the 2015 vintage to see how they'll fare with customers nationwide in the coming months.

"When Tyson approached us late last year, it seemed like a natural fit for Dan Murphy's given that all of the producers that would be working with People of The Vines, were those who we already had a relationship with," Peter Nixon told drinks bulletin.

Nixon added, "People of The Vines also captures what we call our 'deep dives', where we visit a wine region and work directly with the winemakers and growers there to identify wines for our range. Quite often with the new vintage we'll go and try the new wines out of the barrel, so People of the Vines gives a genuine reflection of what we do in our working year."

Based on his most recent visit to the region with People of the Vines, Nixon says Barossa winemakers are only going from strength to strength, particularly off the back of yet another positive vintage.

"If Marlborough sauvignon blanc is the number one white wine customers recognise in Australia at this point in time, then Barossa shiraz is the number one red wine," Nixon continued. "Brand Barossa is definitely the number one region in Australia and internationally, and I don't think the region has ever looked so dynamic."

Nixon said winemakers are becoming smarter with the way they handle oak treatment and quickly discovering the advantages of picking fruit early.

"Producers in the region are picking earlier than ever before," Nixon said. "Wines from the Barossa are always going to be rich, opulent wines, because of its warmer, Mediterranean climate, but by picking earlier and using oak more judiciously we're seeing fruit come to the fore and the wines become more expressive of their subregions."

 

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