The Wines
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2008 Grenache
Ph: 3.48
TA: 6.8g/l
G+F: 0.81g/l
Alc: 14.5 %v/v
Region: Blewitt Springs
Harvest: Mid March
2008 Grenache
Quite frankly one of the most challenging wines I’ve had to blend for many years; to ensure, as always, a complete wine of balance and excitement was not easy. They say the rewards are always relative to the challenge? This wine is pure pleasure, against the odds of the heat wave.
The aromatics highlight lifted perfumes of all the expressions of quince; fresh and aged (in that fruit bowl for months), poached and ever so slightly baked… then there is Redskin lollies without confectionery notes? The nose offers a spectrum of dark cherries, cinnamon quill, eucalyptus sap, sweet smell of the scrub with a collection of native floral. Imagine boiling that billy in the bush, dipping into your pouch of dried Oolong tea leaves?!
Contradicting the heat of 08 which may give expectation of ripe stewyness, the mouth feel is fresh, youthful and structured. It will reward patience in the cellar. In my mind the wine is not dissimilar to the ‘06 but on a path to the ’07 with the spice range. A typical McLaren Vale play of power and vivid brightness; the sun and the sea. Let me know what you think.
Geology/ Paddock:
We are lucky enough to be able to harvest fruit from one of those old vine blocks in Blewitt
Springs, McLaren Vale. The drought of 06/07 tested the resilience of these old vines. Amazingly
enough they survived the summer unaided by supplemented water. Yields were well down
on these blocks particularly but I will raise a glass any time to the wonderful wines we have
harvested from these blocks. A year like this reinforces our observations that Grenache enjoys
light but not excessive heat.
Shed:
Our doctrine to engage indigenous cultures of yeast can be testing with this later harvested
varietal. The natural berry spectrum in the wine is superbly counterbalanced by the savoury
tones achieved with this natural way of fermenting. The hand off approach during maturation
is critical to generating wines of depth and substance. Take particular note of the mouth feel
of this wine.
