Heartland is that place between the vines with the best view of the gum trees. When we first got together to start Heartland all those years ago, the idea was to embrace the best Australian fruit could offer and create wines of balance and texture with a uniquely Australian identity. We found a pure expression of this identity in Langhorne Creek. This has remained the chief source of our fruit ever since. Grant Tilbrook, Scott Collett and Ben Glaetzer form the backbone and foundation of Heartland Wines. Grant had been an important part of Scott’s continued success with Woodstock Wine Estate in McLaren Vale. A partnership seemed an obvious progression. By working together they were able to create their shared dreams faster and better. Grant was one of the first to recognise Ben’s true potential and it wasn't long before they had formed a plan to make a range of unique and impressive wines.
The first Glaetzers settled in the Barossa Valley in 1888 after emigrating from Brandenburg, Germany. The family left Germany on board the Nord-Deutscher Lloyd steamer “Habsburg” and took seven weeks to reach their final destination of Port Adelaide. From here they settled in a country town called Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley where they started their new life in Australia. The family were some of the earliest recorded viticulturalists in the Barossa Valley and Clare Valley.
Over a century later, winemaking patriarch Colin Glaetzer established Glaetzer Wines, a boutique family owned winery producing premium Barossa Valley wines. Today Colin’s son Ben carries on the wine making traditions at Glaetzer Wines. Indeed it was the birth of Glaetzer Wines that signalled a new era for Colin’s family which boasts more than its fair share of winemakers.
