2024 Ministry of Clouds Grenache, McLaren Vale

International Judge’s Trophy, Gold, 95 points McLaren Wine Show 2025

The 2024 Grenache is from both Blewitt Springs and a similar portion from Clarendon (the Smart vineyard). The Blewitt Springs blocks were planted in 1920, 1939, 1940 and 1952. Together, they make up just under 50% of the blend. The balance is from the Smart vineyard in Clarendon, which is very new vines, planted 2022. The wine here is both delicate and tannic. It is composed of nine different wild ferments, with varying degrees of whole bunch (37% in total in the end), a little bit of carbonic maceration and everything kept separate all the way through. This is a beautiful wine—detailed, intricate and persistent. I'll confess that McLaren Vale Grenache is one of my all-time favorite styles of wine, and the delivery of complexity and pleasure in equal measure is why. Drink 2025 to 2035.

96 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, December 2025

Four bush-vine vineyards in Blewitt Springs, planted in 1930, ’39, ’40 and ’52 make up 49% of the blend, with the ’22-planted Smart vineyard in Clarendon the balance. A range of ferments, with 37% whole bunch in the final wine and up to six weeks on skins. Pale, pretty, savoury, complex. There’s such detail in the wines at this address, so synergistically aligned with fruit and site reflections. Wild cherry, rose oil, white pepper, blood orange, souk spices, rhubarb. There’s much thought to layers, both of flavour and texture in this mid-weight wine. It’s a fine example of why intensity has nothing to do with weight. There’s exceptional drinking to be had here.

95 points Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion, March 2026

Light, bright purple-red colour with a lifted fragrance of red cherry and spices, touches of raspberry and red licorice. Fine silty tannins are gentle and harmonious. A delicious lighter style grenache that drinks superbly now. Fragrant, high-energy wine. Drink 2025 to 2032.

93 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, November 2025

Bernice Ong and Julian Forwood launched Ministry of Clouds in 2012, bringing between them close to three decades of experience working for some of Australia's most respected wine producers. Based in McLaren Vale, their focus from the outset has been on old vine Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro, with a particular reverence for the pioneering families who persisted with their Grenache plantings when the prevailing wisdom of earlier decades urged them to pull the vines out. That stubbornness is the foundation of everything Ministry of Clouds does with the variety.

The 2024 draws on five old bush vine vineyards across two distinct McLaren Vale subregions. The Smart vineyard in Clarendon, planted in 1922, contributes around half the blend — centenarian vines growing at altitude on rocky loams, producing a spicy, fine-boned and fragrant expression of the variety. The balance comes from four neighbouring Blewitt Springs vineyards planted between 1930 and 1952, their deep white sands adding a slightly darker, more structured character. Together, the blend is a dialogue between two of McLaren Vale's most distinctive Grenache landscapes, with vine age that is genuinely rare anywhere in the world.

Nine separate wild ferments were handled individually, with whole bunch inclusion ranging from none to 100% and time on skins from one to six weeks — the final blend carrying 37% whole bunch. Each parcel was pressed to old oak puncheons and concrete eggs, matured on fine lees for freshness and texture, with just seven months in large old oak to allow the blend to cohere without any meaningful oak imprint.

The 2024 is pale, fragrant and immediately compelling. Wild cherry, cranberry and rose on the nose, with violets, white pepper, blood orange and a thread of garrigue herbs. The palate is pure and mid-weight, with grainy tannins, bright natural acidity and a finish of real persistence and detail. This is a wine where intensity has nothing to do with weight.

Try it slightly chilled alongside charcuterie and cured meats, grilled lamb cutlets or dishes with earthy, herb-driven character. Or skip the Pinot and opt for this beauty to drink with Cantonese roast duck.

Drink now through 2032, with the structure to reward those who can wait a little longer.