Head Wines: At $28, this Barossa bargain is one hell of a wine
Balance and harmony brook no dissent in this red hot Barossa bargain.
Alex Head dealt himself an unusual hand as he wove his way into fine wine. First up was a degree in biochemistry at the University of Sydney. This was not inspired by wine but a love of science. Then, little by little, pieces of the jigsaw started to fall into place after he started working with Jon Osbeiston of Ultimo Cellars, arguably Sydney’s leading retailer of fine wine from Europe and selected Australian wineries. The arrangement started in 1996 and continued on and off for 10 years. It was a springboard for Head to take trips to the UK, Italy and the northern Rhône Valley, with which he fell in love.
He ran Langton’s Sydney auctions for two years, starting in 2004; he worked the vintage at Torbreck, and made repeated visits to other wineries, notably Tyrrell’s. Various trips to France took in both the northern and southern Rhône, the latter including the iconic Rayas and Tempier wineries. But it was Côte-Rôtie, the guardian of the northern end of the Rhône Valley, that fascinated Head most and is (loosely) the incubator of his eponymous winery.
Just when you start feeling comfortable with his decision to forgo ownership of any vineyards, and more particularly to work with old-vine grenache, shiraz and mourvèdre and the classic tripartite blend of those three varieties, he throws in a cabernet sauvignon (moreover, with the exception of his grenache rosé, it has the lowest alcohol of the wines in his portfolio).
Head, 45, likes to look at the lessons of the past 200 years in his unremitting quest for elegance, balance and harmony. “Following a traditional négociant model, an old practice, I have chosen to work with a number of small growers over having my own vineyards,” he writes. “It’s allowed me to spend years understanding the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of various sites in pursuit of my own style.”