This past Thursday, I had the distinct pleasure of having lunch with Barossa winemaker Rolf Binder.  It’s always a bit unnerving to meet someone you don’t know for lunch, knowing full well that they are going to pour you six different glasses of wine – that they made – and be very interested to see your reaction.

But Rolf’s an Aussie. A Hungarian Aussie. So we ate burgers and fries (and dessert!), tasted some seriously interesting wines, and had a blast.  Look at his picture! He’s just as laid back and cool as he appears.

Rolf’s parents purchased the Veritas property in the 1950s, a Barossa property of about one hundred acres.  Apparently Rolf was playing around with grapes by the age of four, and after stints at school and at other properties he became the red winemaker at Veritas. Not to be outdone, Rolf’s sister Christa is known as an extremely gifted white wine maker; after tasting her Highness Riesling, I had to agree.  In 2005, Veritas became ‘Rolf Binder Wines.’

A few things really struck me about Rolf. First of all, he’s definitely the guy I’m calling if I ever get to the Barossa, just so we can chat over a beer. For being the red winemaker for a brand Robert Parker Jr. calls one of his “favourite Australian wineries,” he’s easy to relate to and just good plain fun; besides wine, we discussed traveling in Mongolia and the finer points of San Francisco slang, and he totes around a pretty serious camera to document his travels.  The second thing that surprised me about Rolf is this: he and Christa get along! Outside of highly publicized, infamously messy fights and breakups between the great wine families of Napa, it was refreshing to hear that they get along swimmingly. His advice: no work talk outside of work.

Now on to the wines.  We started with Christa’s 2010 Highness Riesling, a crisp and floral white wine that was pretty much everything I hoped it would be.  However, we didn’t dally long, and Rolf got down to business by running us through a tasting of red Shiraz-based wines with increasing amounts of Mataro (also known as mourvedre), a large-muscled grape that gives wines a boatload of tannin and dark purple color. First there was the Hales Shiraz, with just 5% Mataro, which Rolf called a “gulper.” The Halliwell distracted us from Mataro for just a moment, since its addition of 30% Grenache made it bright and juicy in a seriously satisfying way.  The Heinrich, named after Rolf’s father, makes me guess the man must have been rather loud and robust, as this 55% Shiraz, 25% Mataro, %20 Grenache blend would have me believe.  And no, you’re not just seeing things. . . all the wine names are ‘H.’

Then things got interesting. Those first four wines are the everyday (read: excellent value) wines. Now we moved on to the flagships, the big boys, the limited releases.  Hubris, a monster of a Shiraz/Mataro blend they call the Bull’s Blood.  Heysen, named after a trail running through the property, is a surprisingly elegant 98% Shiraz, 2% Cabernet; this is the wine of the portfolio that would turn non-Australian wine fans into believers.  And lastly was the Hanish. When I tasted this last wine, I wanted to grab the bottle and run for the door. Gorgeously layered plum and dark berry flavors, understated oak influence, a lot of finesse.  If the Shiraz you had with BBQ last weekend is a pretty good linebacker, the Hanish performs like a Hall Of Fame running back.

So in short, Rolf Binder makes some great wines. A lot of great wines in fact; his website shows they have not only the RF wines but also Veritas wines only available at the winery, special Bull’s Blood presses, fortified wines, more whites by Christa, and some international labels.  And I believe in the power of ‘H.’ I used to think that ‘R’ was always a good bet in picking a wine label by name, but I’m on to these H wines now!