Yangarra Hickinbotham Grenache 2021

96 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

From stone egg amphora maturation. Biodynamic farmed. This is The One from 2021 for me. A huge 198 days on skins. Fantastic. Skittish with cool, blood orange acidity under cherry pip, pomegranate juice, cranberry with its dryness. Dried herbs, a truffley umami lick, Chinese five spice, undergrowth and faint game meat. The tannins are the thing though, racy, tight. a sheath of silt and al dente chew in a wine that defies it’s alcohol percent and ends up finer, fresher, refreshing and bright. Feels 13% or so. It stretches luxuriously on those tannins and finishes with a perfect reset each sip. Perfumed as all get out too. It went from fish to chook to salads to a bean stew and had more to go. Moreish to the max.

95 POINTS

Ned Goodwin - JamesSuckling.com

Hand-picked and wild-fermented, as is the wont here. Long, gentle extraction in amphorae, with 69% on skins for 198 days, gleaning long-limbed tannic nourishment and the sense of pixelated freshness that marks so many of the grenache wines. While the buzz is around Blewitt Springs, Clarendon expresses a more ferrous and firm iteration. Pithy. Nobly bitter, if not a little unresolved at the finish. Cherry cola, licorice root, dried thyme, bergamot, raspberry and persimmon. Latent but very fine. Your patience will be rewarded.

95 POINTS

Ned Goodwin - Halliday Wine Companion

Hand picked and wild fermented. The norm here. Long, gentle extraction in amphorae, with 69% on skins for 198 days, gleaning long-limbed tannic nourishment and the sense of pixelated freshness that marks so many of the grenache wines. While the buzz is around Blewitt Springs, Clarendon expresses a more ferrous and firm iteration. Pithy. Nobly bitter, if not a little unresolved at the finish. Cherry cola, licorice root, dried thyme, bergamot, raspberry and persimmon. Latent but very fine. Your patience will be appreciated.

95 POINTS

Ned Goodwin - Halliday Wine Companion

Hand picked and wild fermented. The norm here. Long, gentle extraction in amphorae, with 69% on skins for 198 days, gleaning long-limbed tannic nourishment and the sense of pixelated freshness that marks so many of the grenache wines. While the buzz is around Blewitt Springs, Clarendon expresses a more ferrous and firm iteration. Pithy. Nobly bitter, if not a little unresolved at the finish. Cherry cola, licorice root, dried thyme, bergamot, raspberry and persimmon. Latent but very fine. Your patience will be appreciated.

95 POINTS

James Suckling

Aromas of sliced strawberries, pitted red cherries, white pepper, grated nutmeg and rosemary stem. Medium- to full-bodied with fine, textural tannins. Transparent and clear with pretty red fruits and berries washing over the palate with lovely definition and drive. Vibrant and bright. Excellent finish. Best after 2024.

95 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2021 Hickinbotham Grenache has that lovely, skinsy, ashy quality that comes from extended time on skins in amphora (69% of the blend remained on skins in amphora for 198 days). There are notes of dehydrated orange rind, dried thyme, lavender/potpourri, crushed shells and sand, fresh tobacco leaf and layers of very fine, pluming tannins in the mouth. The aftertaste is where the tannins assert themselves; after a mouthful of chalky, fine, gritty texture that prompts a little chew and squish, they leave a trace of flavor that brings us back to the aromatics. It's a gorgeous thing, this wine. It's shape is circular, and it's graceful, like watching a lava lamp. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. This was made with 100% destemmed fruit, crushed and tipped into cocciopesto stone egg-shaped amphoras. No pressings were used in this wine. It matured exclusively in this format for 13 months.

95 POINTS

Christina Pickard - Wine Enthusiast

Enticing aromas of strawberry, spice and florals billow from the glass. The palate is medium to full bodied, by Grenache standards, with oodles of plump, juicy fruit girdled by spicy, fine tannins and lovely acidity. The cool 2021 vintage has ramped up the aromatics here (and the acidity), and it's drinking beautifully now but will age gracefully for at least eight to 10 years.

Decanter

Strawberry and violet aromas with a touch of garrigue and spice. Weighty with powdery tannins, offering fresh, fruit-driven flavours, earthy leather, mushroom notes and a warm finish.