History & Passion
Established in 1850 by Frank Potts, Bleasdale is the spiritual home of Langhorne Creek
The philosophy of the Bleasdale winemaking team is to capture the essence of what makes Langhorne Creek red wines so attractive – vibrancy, harmony and texture. Cabernet Sauvignon has elegance and captivating depth of flavour, Shiraz is a ripe fruit style with refined cool climate spice elements and Malbec is perfumed and finely structured.
Bleasdale is rich in history and producing some of Australia’s most exciting, consistently impressive premium wines. Whether a Bleasdale wine is $12 or $70, whether it is a Sparkling Shiraz, a single vineyard Malbec or the Frank Potts Cabernet, it conveys a story in the glass that substantiates its history, diversity and increasingly, its pedigree.
Experience & Expertise
From cool climate whites of the Adelaide Hills to sparkling shiraz; flavour packed Langhorne Creek red wines ranging from great value, everyday drinking to prestigious small parcels of highly revered Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec; fortified wines made from Shiraz, Grenache and Verdelho that reflect over 160 years of winemaking. It is almost unparalleled.
The Bleasdale winemaking team are achieving excellent results both nationally and internationally - including being names Halliday Winery of the Year in 2024.
Each vintage over 200 different parcels of wines are made, all expressing their own individuality based on micro-climate and soil type of the vineyards they have come from.
In September every year the winemaking team spend three days assessing every parcel of wine, aided by two independent judges, from which they will create the script for each final blend to be assembled.
The winemaking team’s philosophy is to allow the region to express naturally what it produces with minimal influence by winemaking. The reds have an honest masculinity but are not brutish. Cabernet has elegance and captivating depth of flavour, Shiraz is a ripe fruit style with refined cool climate spice elements and Malbec is perfumed and finely structured.
The Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris are expressions of purity of fruit whilst the balanced, cool climate Chardonnay portrays great structure and length of fruit.
The wine portfolio steadily grew during the mid/late 2000s with the production of Petrel Reserve and The Broad-Side – both Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec blends.
In 2010 there were two wines produced to celebrate the 160 year anniversary of Bleasdale – the Powder Monkey Shiraz and the Double Take Malbec.
This was followed shortly after with The Iron Duke Cabernet Sauvignon, named for one of the guns owned by Frank Potts, and the Fortis et Astutus 20 Year Old Rare Liqueur Tawny. Fortis et Astutus translated from Latin means “strong and astute”, reflecting the passion, innovation and ideas that have abounded as the family has taken its journey from the earliest days of wine in South Australia to producing some of Australia’s most exciting wines today.
How exceptional these wines are has not just happened on its own. Paul completely overhauled the rating system for the company’s vineyards and those of its growers with the sole purpose of receiving grapes of the highest calibre possible.
Since 2010 Bleasdale has seen the benefits of this through a multitude of awards and accolades. It’s the way it should be, in the pursuit of quality.
