"Deep crimson in colour with red and purple hues. Lifted chocolate, vanilla, dark fruits and a touch of Christmas cake on the nose. Soft supple and silky tannins, the wine is abundant in rich dark blue fruits with a lovely mouth filling generosity. Gentle beading and delicate, soft mousse makes the palate luscious. A brooding, savoury dark chocolate backbone of flavour balances with sweet perfumed oak notes leading to a great length of blackberry jam and satsuma plum conserve. The fruit sweetness is apparent, but balanced by the complexity of fruit-weight and time spent on tirage prior to disgorgement. This wine can be enjoyed at multiple times of day- accompanied at breakfast by a bacon and egg roll doused in tomato sauce- at lunchtime with Turkey and cranberry sauce, or dessert time with a dark and creamy chocolate mousse or brownies and whipped cream."
Peter Lehmann established his namesake winery in 1979, driven in large part by a desire to support Barossa growers during a crippling grape oversupply at the time. The wine from the first vintage in 1980 was called ‘The Futures’ in a nod to the commitment Peter made to paying the growers once he had sold the wine. This arrangement was sealed with a handshake and Peter’s word was his bond. True to his promise, when the money started coming in, Peter made sure to pay his growers first.This pivotal act, and leap of faith, is widely credited with saving a significant portion of the Barossa’s historic vineyards.
Led by Peter, the Barossa community pulled together, not just to make great wine but to preserve the future of the land and the Barossa region, forging a legacy of quality and regional stewardship. Today these longstanding relationships with the same community of family growers gives the Peter Lehmann winemakers unrivalled access to the very best grapes across the length and breadth of the Barossa. Peter Lehmann passed away in 2013 at age 82, with his wife Margaret, a key partner in shaping the business, still active in regional wine advocacy today.
In 2014, the Casella Family Brands, acquired the winery, returning it to private family control and recommitting to the original grower-centric vision, with John Caselle making a promise to Margaret Lehmann that he would continue to honour her husband Peter’s famous handshake that had secured the livelihoods of so many growers decades before. Today the wines are steered by head winemaker, and native Barossan Brett Schutz and team, who continue the tradition of crafting terroir-driven wines from grapes sourced across their Barossa family of growers to make the Peter Lehmann signature wines decades of consumers have come to love.
Sourced from four long term growers of premium Shiraz; Schrapel, Hampel, Gladigau and Grope planted in the Ebenezer and Light Pass districts. Fruit for the Black Queen is selected based on a silky tannin profile and sweet red berry fruit expression. Fermented on skins for 10 days, pressed, clarified and then matured for 12 months in older French oak hogsheads. The base wine was then bottle-fermented and aged on its yeast lees for 36 months. After disgorgement, a small percentage of The King Vintage Port was used as expedition liqueur to build complexity and enhance the rich Christmas cake fruit characters.
