2021 Yangarra Hickinbotham Clarendon Grenache, McLaren Vale

The 2021 Hickinbotham Grenache has that lovely, skinsy, ashy quality that comes from extended time on skins in amphora (69% of the blend remained on skins in amphora for 198 days). There are notes of dehydrated orange rind, dried thyme, lavender/potpourri, crushed shells and sand, fresh tobacco leaf and layers of very fine, pluming tannins in the mouth. The aftertaste is where the tannins assert themselves; after a mouthful of chalky, fine, gritty texture that prompts a little chew and squish, they leave a trace of flavor that brings us back to the aromatics. It's a gorgeous thing, this wine. It's shape is circular, and it's graceful, like watching a lava lamp. Drink 2023 to 2036.

95+ points Erin Larkin for The Wine Avocate, September 2023

Hand picked and wild fermented. The norm here. Long, gentle extraction in amphorae, with 69% on skins for 198 days, gleaning long-limbed tannic nourishment and the sense of pixelated freshness that marks so many of the grenache wines. While the buzz is around Blewitt Springs, Clarendon expresses a more ferrous and firm iteration. Pithy. Nobly bitter, if not a little unresolved at the finish. Cherry cola, licorice root, dried thyme, bergamot, raspberry and persimmon. Latent but very fine. Your patience will be appreciated. Drink 2024 to 2031.

95 points Ned Goodwin MW for Halliday Wine Companion, July 2023

Medium-depth purple-red colour with a reserved but fragrant bouquet of red fruits and floral overtones, a note of blackberry pastille, a subtle lacing of fresh herbs, and a sheen of firming tannins coating the palate from start to finish. Long and promising: a very smart grenache. Drink 2025 to 2035.

95 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, January 2023

Hand-picked and wild-fermented, as is the wont here. Long, gentle extraction in amphorae, with 69% on skins for 198 days, gleaning long-limbed tannic nourishment and the sense of pixelated freshness that marks so many of the grenache wines. While the buzz is around Blewitt Springs, Clarendon expresses a more ferrous and firm iteration. Pithy. Nobly bitter, if not a little unresolved at the finish. Cherry cola, licorice root, dried thyme, bergamot, raspberry and persimmon. Latent but very fine. Your patience will be rewarded. Drink or hold.

95 points James Suckling, July 2023

Yangarra Estate has been at the forefront of McLaren Vale Grenache for two decades, farming its single estate organically and biodynamically in Blewitt Springs. Winemaker Peter Fraser is one of the most thoughtful and respected voices on the variety in Australia, and his work with the Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard — a neighbouring site in the elevated hills of Clarendon, on the northern edge of McLaren Vale — represents some of the most distinctive Grenache being made anywhere in the country.

The Hickinbotham block was planted in 1962 to unirrigated bush vines on brown clay loam with weathered and broken siltstone. Where Yangarra's Blewitt Springs wines lean towards fragrance and silkiness, Clarendon delivers a more ferrous, firm and structured expression of the variety. The 2021 season brought a delayed harvest with cold nights and mild, sunny days. The conditions produced excellent fruit ripeness alongside bright natural acidity.

Fruit was hand-picked, selectively berry sorted and wild fermented in 1800 litre cocciopesto amphorae, a Roman concrete material revived here as a fermentation and maturation vessel. Sixty-nine percent of the blend remained on skins for 198 days, drawing fine, long-limbed tannin and the fresh mineral quality that extended amphora contact uniquely provides. The wine matured for a total of 13 months before bottling.

The 2021 is a wine of real complexity and quiet power. Dehydrated orange rind, dried thyme, lavender and crushed shells on the nose, with cherry cola, bergamot, raspberry and persimmon threading through. The palate is graceful and circular in feel, with layers of chalky, fine tannin building through to a long, assertive finish. Pithy and nobly bitter in the best possible sense — this is a wine that rewards patience more than the 2022.

Reviewers are unanimous: give it time and plenty of air once opened. Drink alongside roasted game birds or a dish with earthy umami characters.