Meet the sisters carrying an Australia wine legacy dating to 1846
The cellar door is open seven days until late with live Barossan music on Friday and Saturday. What more could you ask for?
Sisters Janelle and Kristen Zerk are fifth generation Barossans who produce, own and operate Z WINE. In 1846 their great, great grandfather Joachim Johann Daniel Zerk purchased what he considered a perfect site for a vineyard. More than 170 years later, Janelle and Kristen grew up in the original bluestone homestead which adjoins Hoffnungsthal where Joachim Johann and Caroline Zerk originally settled.
The sisters’ history of growing up on a vineyard – with hands-on wine industry experience – led them to establish Z WINE in 2006, long before Elon Musk began his corporate ventures with Tesla and Twitter, renaming the latter X. Memories of their childhood include playing hide-and-seek between vine rows; pretending they were kings and queens sitting on thrones atop old grenache bush vines, and “picking up sticks” left in the rows by their father and grandfather pruning the vines. I, too, have vivid memories of driving from Sydney to Brokenwood in 1970 on weekends picking up pieces of ironbark roots left after the trees had been cleared. And what did we call the work? Picking up sticks.
In 1998 Janelle enrolled in Adelaide University’s Bachelor of Oenology degree, the first member of the Zerk family to do so. In 2003 Kristen enrolled in Adelaide University’s Bachelor of Wine Marketing degree. Stitched in between these courses and thereafter, Janelle has worked 26 vintages including Australia, France (Puligny-Montrachet), Italy (Tuscany) and the US (Sonoma, California), working with mentors including Brokenwood’s Iain Riggs and PJ Charteris. Janelle’s travels through the wine world are reflected in the balance and elegance of the wines she makes.
The cellar door is open seven days until late with live Barossan music on Friday and Saturday. What more could you ask for? Three hours in a Porsche Boxster on a conducted gastronomic tour of the Barossa? The fertile mind of Kristen seemingly knows no barriers.
2020 Z HEIN ANCESTOR VINE BAROSSA VALLEY SHIRAZ
From a tiny vineyard owned by generations of the Hein family for more than 140 years. A 90% whole berry, 10% whole bunch ferment, matured in two French oak barrels (one new). A very attractive wine with a seamless flow across the palate and finish. Beautifully balanced, with full-bodied black cherry-accented fruit.
96 points, drink to 2040, 14.8% alcohol, diam, $300
2022 Z ROMAN OLD VINE BAROSSA VALLEY GSM
A blend of 35% 90-year-old grenache, 34% survivor vine shiraz and 31% old vine mataro; open-fermented and matured for six months in used oak. Impressively deeply-coloured, it is medium-bodied and supple, with plum, wild strawberry and dark cherry flavours, spices starting to build.
95 points, drink to 2034, 14.5% alcohol, screwcap, $45
2023 Z RUSTICA BAROSSA VALLEY GRENACHE
Open-fermented, extended maceration, matured for four months in used oak. The juicy red berry aromas and flavours are in the mainstream of modern grenache style, arguably best enjoyed in the first two years of its life.
93 points, drink to 2025, 14% alcohol, screwcap, $25
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