2022 MMAD Vineyard Blewitt Springs Grenache, McLaren Vale

The second release of the MMAD Vineyard label, and off its 1939-planted Blewitt Springs vineyard. About 15% whole bunches, fermented in wood and steel, maturation in concrete and large old French oak. Unlike the 2022 shiraz, this takes time to emerge from the glass. It’s all there, though. There’s a brooding quality at present, with nori, iodine and ferrous notes filtering up through dark red cherry, plum, raspberry and sultry florals. Some spicy, musky characters emerge with air. Tannin is a meaningful factor, a pleasingly natural grape-derived affair, rugged but never rustic. A seriously compelling wine, and further proof of how thrilling McLaren Vale grenache is right now, for both its quality and the unparalleled diversity in top-flight expressions. Drink to 2034.

97 points (Special Value) Marcus Ellis for Hailliday Wine Companion, February 2024

This is ballistically good. I doubt that I’ll taste anything much better from these shores over the next 12 months. The first thing you notice is the plushness, which is always welcome, but it’s the the finish that takes things to eleven. Wow, really, this wine has a show-stopping finish on it. It’s blessed with red and blue berry flavours, cedarwood, roasted spice and earth, but itemising the flavours of this wine kind of misses the point. It’s like focussing on the colour of a tidal wave. The complete and utter command of the final flourish of flavour and tannin here feels, as you swallow, like a high water mark. I’m sold, totally sold, on this wine. Drink to 2038.

97 points Campbell Mattinson The Wine Front

This vintage sees a step up in collected wild floral tones. Hyacinths, freesia and lilac. Alongside floats punnets of raspberries, apple and strawberry sorbet and Ikea lingonberry syrup (pick some up when you get your meatballs). The palate is wired like a spring, flirty red fruit shows its more demure side with sappy and succulent tannins taking the lead with a smoke show of mediterranean souk spices. Sumac, sweet paprika and cumin. There is a thirst quenching element to the wine, refreshing but chewy to boot. Uncommon in its fluorescent core of red fruit but intricate in its woven textural palate. Designed for drinking young and with all the stuffing to be capable of cellaring and developing in complexities for another decade. Today I’d drink this with Korean gimbap with extra kimchi sides.

96 points Shanteh Wale for Wine Pilot, September 2024

A sumptuously perfumed grenache with no shortage of structural exactitude and the tension that comes with it. Lilacs, tapenade, raspberry coulis, freshly picked strawberries and anise. Dried lavender and rosemary are bound to the tannic latticework. Salty and nourishing, with the warmth of umami across the long finish. Drink or hold.

96 points Ned Goodwin for James Suckling, February 2024

Deep, bright red-purple colour with dominant nutmeg-spice aromas, and a full-bodied, firm palate that seems tight and a little unresolved at this stage. It's firm and deep, and looks to have more to reveal if given time. Certainly the concentration and palate length are very promising. A serious grenache! Drink to 2037.

94 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, March 2024

The 2022 Grenache is perfumed, meaty and floral, with aromas of thyme, tarragon, Boscobel rose, blood plum and black cherry. In the mouth, the wine is pretty and full of flavor, and texturally, it is firm yet fine. This is the second release of this wine, and it is more bold and concentrated than my memory of the 2021 dictates. Drink to 2032.

92 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, September 2024

MMAD Vineyard Blewitt Springs Grenache is a standout expression of old vine Grenache from McLaren Vale, grown in the deep sands of Blewitt Springs. This vineyard was planted in 1939 and is now in the hands of the MMAD quartet: Martin Shaw, Michael Hill Smith MW, Adam Wadewitz and David LeMire MW. Their mission is to honour great old vines through minimal intervention and a vineyard-first approach, and this Grenache absolutely delivers on that philosophy.

Blewitt Springs is one of McLaren Vale’s most prized subregions, known for its elevation, cool evening breezes and fine, sandy soils that lend delicacy and fragrance to Grenache. The fruit here ripens slowly and evenly, building complexity and fine structure rather than overt power.

Winemaker Adam Wadewitz handles the fruit with restraint. It’s hand-picked, wild fermented with a portion of whole bunches, and aged in large old oak to let the purity of the vineyard shine. The result is a beautifully perfumed, medium-bodied Grenache with energy and texture.

Aromas of red cherry, blood orange, raspberry leaf, pink pepper and rose petal jump from the glass. The palate is fresh and detailed, with silken tannins, mineral acidity and a lingering finish of spice and crushed herbs. There’s a lightness of touch here, but no shortage of depth or persistence.

It’s an incredibly food-friendly wine. Try it with grilled quail, lamb kofta, pomegranate-glazed eggplant, or chargrilled octopus with sumac. It can be enjoyed young for its brightness but will reward 5 to 8 years in the cellar with added complexity and savoury development.