2024 Thistledown Fool On The Hill Grenache, McLaren Vale

The 2024 Fool on the Hill Grenache is from Eden Valley, and the wine is abundantly aromatic and eloquent of its place. The tiered vineyard site is up near Pewsey Vale and overlooks the Barossa from its vantage point of 500 meters above sea level. The wine is aromatically soft, textural and plump in the mouth, with rose petals and blood orange, red apples and redcurrants. With a hint of pomegranate molasses, the quartz comes through, and there's an integrated base of savory flavor that balances the exuberance of it. It's a highly attractive, gorgeous wine that speaks of the Eden in its splay of rocky tannin. It is chewy and powdery and fills the mouth with floral perfume. It fermented in concrete, which was a "layer cake of whole bunch and whole berry," says founder and winemaker Giles Cooke MW. The ferment received no pumping over, i.e., a very gentle extraction. Post ferment, it matured for 10 months in three- to five-year-old French puncheons. When I think of the three Grenache wines, I, perhaps controversially, given the others are from McLaren Vale, admire the tannin structure of this one the most. They all are magnificent wines.

97+ points Erin Larkin robertparker.com

An intense note of raspberry essence mixes with dried rose petals and subtle kelp aromas. It's almost playing cat and mouse - you think it's presented itself, and then more aromas appear: fresh leather and sour cherries. The palate is a beam of flavour, echoing the nose. A crescendo of silty tannins carries the flavours along, never interfering with graceful expression. This is glorious grenache providing off-the-charts enjoyment. It's so complete in its youth and will only gain greater complexity with age. 04 May 2025 Drink 2025–2037

97 points Gabrielle Poy therealreview.com #1 of 15 2024 Grenache 

From four Blewitt Springs sites, all old, dry-grown bush vine. One parcel was fermented in a concrete pyramid with crushed fruit and whole bunches, the rest open fermented with 35% whole bunches; maturation mainly in old puncheons. 2023 has delivered grenache of beguiling perfume. In the best examples there's also depth, spice and the structural architecture to age. Such is the case here. Dusky dark rose, cherry, wild raspberry, ground cinnamon, rosehip and bergamot tea with a ferrous substratum. The tannins across the ’23 grenache bottlings at this address are excellent, assertive in a finely sandy and gently pithy way.

95 points Marcus Ellis winecompanion.com.au

Thistledown Fool On The Hill Grenache is one of the rarest and most dramatic wines in the range, sourced from an extraordinary site perched high on the ridges of Clarendon in McLaren Vale. The vineyard sits at over 300 metres above sea level, making it one of the highest Grenache plantings in South Australia. Up here, the nights are cooler and the ripening season is stretched out, producing fruit of striking purity, perfume and natural acidity.

The vines themselves are dry-grown bush vines, rooted deep in sandy soils that naturally restrict yields. Combined with meticulous hand harvesting and sensitive winemaking from Giles Cooke MW and Fergal Tynan MW, the result is a Grenache that is ethereal and lifted while still carrying the depth and intensity of McLaren Vale. Fermented with wild yeasts and significant whole-bunch inclusion, then aged in neutral oak, it’s a wine that celebrates fragrance, texture and vineyard character.

In the glass, Fool On The Hill bursts with wild raspberry, cranberry, and blood orange, layered with rose petals, crushed herbs and exotic spice. The palate is finely textured with silky tannins, a vibrant line of acidity and a mineral edge that gives it length and poise. It’s a wine often described by critics as the most “Burgundian” in style of Thistledown’s single-vineyard Grenaches, and one that has gained increasing international recognition for its finesse.

Food matches lean towards refined, aromatic dishes: duck breast with cherry jus, spiced lamb backstrap, or mushroom and truffle risotto. It also has the elegance to work with vegetarian pairings like roasted beetroot with hazelnuts or charred eggplant with tahini. Cellaring potential is excellent, with 10–12 years of graceful evolution ahead, revealing more savoury and earthy dimensions.