Cabernet – Shiraz blends are the cultural soul of the Australian Wine Industry. Released with bottle age to add complexity and softness, this hand crafted wine is a sign of respect to a great part of our country’s wine making history.
The wine represents my best effort to present the unmanipulated flavours of the vineyard and the weather conditions of each season. Four generations of my family have been in the grape growing and winemaking business, so there has been plenty of good advice. This wine is my contribution to maintaining that connection for another generation. Tim O’Callaghan
This was close to my favourite wine when I went to the Barossa. It was not the best wine I drunk, but the wine I would have asked for if I could have only picked one bottle. It is so Australian (with the term australian Claret fitting perfectly for this wine) but also now different from the norm. It has a very interesting story behind the wine. This is one of the few Australian Wines that is ready to drink from release. Well holding it back for six years before release may have sometihing to do with it.
Timothy O'Callaghan explains that his family crest is an Irish Hound standing under an oak tree; the Diggers Bluff label features his faithful hound digger, under a Mallee tree. He is third generation O'Callaghan winemaker... Diggers Bluff has 2.5 ha of grenache, mataro, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, all of it old vines. James Halliday
I’m fourth generation of my family to be involved in the wine business. I cut my teeth with some of the wine making greats both here and in the Hunter Valley, including a number of years working alongside my father at Rockford Wines. All of this experience and knowledge convinced me that I wanted to make quality wine that represented the Barossa, its soils and its seasonal variations.
So I’ve spent the last 6 years rebuilding old vineyards, planting new ones and making my wine. I pruned, picked, fermented, pressed and labelled this wine with my own hands. Because I have aged the wine in my cellar for 6 years it’s showing real bottle age and is drinking beautifully at the moment. My goal is to continue to make high quality aged Barossa wine and sell it to a small group of loyal customers.
The name "Diggers Bluff" came about because I happen to own the world’s greatest dog, he was born on Anzac day, so I named him Digger, together we live on a windy bluff over-looking Seppeltsfield vineyards. There is only a small quantity of this wine, with the next 5 vintages safely in the cellar. Although I will be adding to this label, "Watchdog" will always be a rare and special wine.
It has been a long and rewarding journey making this wine. I hope you get as much pleasure from drinking it. Tim O’Callaghan
