2024 McLaren Vale Grenache Blanc
TASTING NOTE
Aromas of ripe pears and apples, lemons, lychee, white flowers and delicate background exotic spice.The wine has flavours of pear, hints of stone fruit, honeysuckle, as well as fennel herbiness, some spice and hints of almond. It is a textural wine, but also has a nice line of zesty acidity.
VINEYARD
Sourced from another of Sue Trott’s vineyards that lies east of McLaren Flat on a slightly elevated site (135m) with loamy clay soil.
VINTAGE
The season started with a dry winter and start to spring - warm days and quite cool nights meant a slow start to shoot growth, and smaller crops in some early flowering varieties. In mid- November the weather pattern changed to give us a lot of rain and some humidity, which helped with shoot growth and to improve crop levels, but was challenging in the vineyards to keep disease under control. In early January the rain stopped thankfully, and we had dry conditions right the way through harvest, so disease was much less of an issue than it could have been. A few short heat waves provided some challenges, but generally the wine quality is very good.
WINE MAKING
Hand harvested in the cool of the early morning and gently pressed, then fermented and matured on lees partially in stainless steel and the remainder in older French oak puncheons (25%) to give some texture.
Wine is vegan friendly.
FOOD PAIRING
Cheese platter, paella or a chicken tagine
WINEMAKER
Renae Hirsch
REVIEWS
Halliday Wine Companion - Marcus Ellis
92 Points
"From one of Sue Trott’s vineyards in McLaren Flat on heavy clays, this was pressed to tank (75%) and old barrel (25%) for fermentation. Waxy apples and tart pear, orchard florals, a fringe of herbs and a little lemon curd, this is racy, with relatively fine-boned fruit on a driving line of freshness. It’s early on, and a little tense, but a few months, ideally six, and it should be singing."
The Wine Front - Gary Walsh
92 Points
"The first vintage of this wine, from the Trott vineyard in McLaren Flat.A quiet wine that offers pleasing flinty texture and grip, lemon water, a slight gooseberry flavour, a smattering of dried herbs with some lemon peel bitterness, and a bright finish of good length. It’s frisky and energetic and while it may be a little dilute in the flavour department, its mouthfeel and shape kind of compensates for that. Good drinking here."