2025 Dandelion Vineyards Fairytale Grenache Rose, McLaren Vale

A deeper colour than the current norm, but this isn’t made to toe the line. Fruit off bush-vine grenache, with vines a quarter of a century old, whole-bunch pressed to barrel, then a native ferment. It’s a little savoury, with texture as a feature, but with typically succulent fruit and an acid balance. Red cherry, cinnamon, wild raspberry, tangerine peel, tamarind. It’s wines like this that are making the rosé category genuinely interesting. Drink 2025 to 2028.

94 points Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion, February 2026

Elena Brooks founded Dandelion Vineyards with a clear intent: to make wines that speak plainly of the places they come from. Born in Bulgaria and trained in oenology in Australia, she has worked vintages across Europe and South Australia before settling in McLaren Vale. Her winemaking philosophy is built around restraint — spending time in the vineyard, then stepping back in the winery.

The Fairytale Rosé is made from 25-year-old bush vine Grenache in McLaren Vale, hand-picked in the first week of February. Free-run juice is fermented with indigenous yeast in old French oak puncheons and left on lees for 15 weeks before bottling with minimal fining.

Potpourri, liquorice and mandarin peel on the nose, with pomegranate, rose petal and a curl of tamarind giving it a savoury, grown-up complexity. The palate is fresh and firm — raspberry, blackberry and sun-warmed citrus with a mineral, river-pebble tension to the texture and racing acidity carrying the fruit through to a grippy, persistent finish.

An extremely versatile rosé, with a distinctive texture and savoury edge, equally at home in summer and winter. Its fresh and food-friendly character makes it a good partner for Japanese-style whitebait tempura or a Vietnamese prawn salad with herbs and nuoc cham.

Drink now through 2028.