2023 Ministry of Clouds Grenache, McLaren Vale

From three growers in Blewitt Springs (58%) and the oldest vines on the Smart Vineyard in Clarendon (42%); some parcels destemmed, the others all whole bunch, with up to five weeks on skins; maturation in old French oak and concrete eggs for seven months. This is so composed and poised at this early stage – fragrant, refined yet expressive. Dried cranberry, rose, bergamot, carraway, raspberry leaf tea and pomegranate, with savoury dried herbs, warm spice and a ferrous note complexing. The balance between fruit sweetness and tannic drive is pitched keenly. It’s the very picture of modern Vale grenache.

95 points Special Value Marcus Ellis winecompanion.com.au

Hand harvested from a pair of old bush vine vineyards, one 8 3 and the other 100 years of age situated in the highest climes of Blewitt Springs and Clarendon. We love both expressions of Grenache - the spicy, fine, pinot-esque expression that hails from the rocky loams and altitude of Clarendon, and the ever so slightly darker, more structured characteristics we see from the deep sands of Blewitt Springs. We carefully de-stemmed 80% of the fruit to retain whole berries, including the balance of whole bunches as a layer in the middle of the ferment. Ferments were started wild in traditional open fermenters, with hand plunging twice daily to wet the caps, but not so vigorous as to macerate the stalks. After 21 days on skins, we basket pressed each parcel to a mixture of old oak puncheons and inert tanks. As always maturation was undertaken on fine lees to build mid palate texture and for the reductive benefit to avoid Grenache’s predisposition to oxidation. 10 months only in large old oak to allow the blend to come together and bottled young before any meaningful oak influence can be seen. 

Showing old vine intensity without heaviness, fragrant cranberry and wild cherry fruit lift, violets, earth, and garrigue herbs: the palate is pure with calming depth and intensity, but kept necessarily fresh by grainy tannins and a bright line of natural acid.