Cellar notes: The generation game

To call Ben Glaetzer up-and-coming would fail to do justice to the already considerable achievements of this dynamic 27-year-old Barossa Valley winemaker.

To call Ben Glaetzer up-and-coming would fail to do justice to the already considerable achievements of this dynamic 27-year-old Barossa Valley winemaker. This year he won the prestigious Qantas Medal for young winemakers at the Qantas/Australian Gourmet Traveller WINE Winemaker of the Year Awards, an exhaustively titled institution set up to celebrate the depth and diversity of the country's winemakers.

Ben is the scion of a renowned wine-making family and together with his father Colin manages a 10,000-tonne winery, making traditional Barossa shiraz under the Glaetzer and Amon Ra labels. He also produces an affordable Heartland range, sourced mainly from the Limestone Coast and Langhorne Creek. And on top of that there are bottles made for McLaren Vale producers Woodstock and Mitolo.

Ben and Colin's 2001 Glaetzer Bishop Shiraz, Barossa Valley (£15.99, Oddbins Fine Wine) is sourced from shiraz vines with an average age of 30 years in the Ebenezer district of the Barossa Valley, making for a youthful style with liquorice spicy aromas and opulent mulberry and blackberryish fruit. Drink a bottle now but hang on to a few more for up to five years.

Their top red, the 2001 Glaetzer Barossa Valley Shiraz (£24.99, Oddbins Fine Wine), comes from ancient 80-year-old, dry-grown vines which Colin sourced for the famous E & E Black Pepper Shiraz when he was at Barossa Valley Estates. It's intensely concentrated, with seductive blackberry character and spicy American oak. Stash it away for five to 10 years.