2024 McLaren Vale Grenache
TASTING NOTE
Bright red berry and pomegranate fruit aromas, along with flowering herbs- lavender and thyme. Medium bodied with vibrancy on the palate, the wine has flavours of red and dark cherries, and a savoury backbone of earthy spice and minerals. Finishing with lingering flavours that are supported by sinewy, yet fine tannins.
VINEYARD
Sourced from Willunga 100's own estate vineyard 'Blind Spot' in the sub-region of Blewitt Springs (McLaren Vale). 100% dry grown bush vine Grenache from three different sections of the vineyard, each with a slightly different aspect/elevation. Vine age is approximately 50 years old. The soils of the vineyard are deep Maslin sand over a base of ironstone and clay.
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, but 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.
WINEMAKING
Five parcels were selected across the 3 blocks, and from were hand harvested and vinified separately. The wines were fermented in stainless steel open fermenters. Some of the parcels were fermented with some whole bunch (equalling approx. 13% whole bunch across the blended wine). Each parcel spent between 8-12 days on skins then was gently basket pressed. 70% of the wine was transferred to aged French oak puncheons post primary fermentation to undergo malolactic fermentation, the balance remained in stainless steel. The wine remained on malo lees for 10 months before being racked and blended prior to bottling.
WINEMAKER: Renae Hirsch
REGION: McLaren Vale
FOOD PAIRING: Chorizo and Prawn Paella
REVIEWS
96 Points - Nick Ryan, Top 100 Wines, The Australian
"If you’re at all curious why Blewitt Springs in McLaren Vale is the most hyped dirt in Australian wine right now, here’s the perfect entry point for imminent addiction. A worthy successor to the all-conquering 2023 vintage, it comes from 50-year-old bush vines dry grown in the sub-region’s defining sand. There’s a distinctive lift to the aromatics – abundant red berries, rubbed rosemary, a pinch of pomegranate too – but it’s the micro-fine tannin structure that really stamps its class."
93 Points - Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
"From 50-year-old vines on the estate Blindspot vineyard, Blewitt Springs. A brilliant garnet in the glass, this is delightfully pure of feel, though with a little more generosity, a lower-gear drive than the single sites. There are some darker fruits, a violet note, iodine, iron, a rounding out of flavour from older oak maturation (70%). There’s drive and tension, too. Redcurrant gel, black cherry, dried hardy herbs, a little anise, with a savouriness to flavour and structure. It’s a fine introduction to the Willunga 100 grenache mission."
93 Points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"From 50-60 year old vines in Blewitt Springs.
Black cherry and raspberry, a smattering of aromatic herbs and mint, some dark spice, a slight choc-hazelnut thing here too. It’s medium-bodied, a mixed of red and black fruit, a crisp subtle orange tang to acidity, pumice stone tannin grip with a cool spicy finish of good length. Bright and tasty. Varietal and good value too. Boxes are being ticked here."