Some Penna Lane history from the February issue of The Adelaide Review. Charles Gent interviews Wine manager/maker Peter Treloar.
Francis Treloar, Peter’s direct ancestor, was one of the Clare Valley’s earliest winemakers.
The vineyards of Treloar’s Prospect at Watervale were established in 1865 and Francis sold his early wines from the barrel in the Watervale Hotel.
Fittingly, it was Watervale fruit that propelled a Penna Lane wine into the Top 10 of the Adelaide Review’s latest Hot 100 Wines. And to ice the cake, the 2015 Penna Lane Skilly Valley Riesling, grown around the winery’s home vineyard, also earned a Hot 100 berth.
“Our Watervale block is down at Leasingham, and is, coincidentally, an old Quelltaler block, although unfortunately not with the original vines,” Treloar quips.
Penna Lane buys its grapes from grower Anthony Koerner, whose vines are 35 to 40 years old and grown, Treloar says, in “lovely, deep, rich loamy soils”.
“Clare is known – and we keep trying to push it – for its beautifully dry Rieslings,” Treloar says. “The beauty of Riesling is its pure fruit. Clare has warm days with clear skies that ripen the fruit, with cool nights that settle everything down and develop the acids and keep the vines in good condition.”
Read the full article – Clare Riesling: The Penna finally drops (PDF) or online at The Adelaide Review.
