96 POINTS
Marcus Ellis - Halliday's Wine Companion
From the estate’s 1946-planted bush vines. Half whole berries, half crushed, with gentle pump overs and extended maceration on some parcels up to seven months; matured in older French puncheons, foudre, ceramic eggs and amphorae. This is quite a different wine to the 2022. That’s a tale of two seasons. Both cool, but the buttress of natural tannin in the 2022 is commanding and it is more compressed, needing time. This is prettily lifted, with cherry, cranberry, rosehip, dried orange peel, wild raspberry and red florals. It’s a gloriously fine and elegant expression of this cuvée, but it has tannic drive, line and length, savouriness, flavour depth and detail. Excellent.
95 POINTS
Shanteh Wale - winepilot.com
Sourced from unirrigated bush vines dating back to 1946. Gala apple skin, peach tea and wild strawberries. A slice of watermelon, cherry pit and blue stones. The wine is supremely fine and dancing on its feet, tannins are like a cool mist sprayed across your face, you feel the sensation but not the force. A mix of french and Austrian oak makes for a pliable frame, it’s full of exuberance and life. A rooibos tea savoury note rounds out the final flavours. A beautiful wine that would benefit from big Burgundy glasses and a roast chook.
95 POINTS
Ray Jordan - Winepilot.com
Winemaker Peter Fraser knows a thing or two about Grenache and this is an example of how he has finessed the fruit from this cooler vintage to create a wine of elegance and refinement. The savoury dried herbs of Blewitt Springs bring it to a vibrant highly energised palate. In many ways atypically Australian, but very much a part of this regional and vineyard expression.
Perfumed and complex aromas of wild raspberries, potpourri, orange rind and dried herbs. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with vibrant acidity and fine tannins, giving notes of boysenberries, red licorice, blackberry bush and violets. A very complete wine made from old bush vines planted in 1946. Exceptional. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
95 POINTS
Cassandra Charlick - Winepilot.com
Blewitt Springs is sandy, it’s dusty and the Grenache from here reflects that. There’s a reason that Grenache lovers enjoy the wines from here. This is from dry grown bush vines planted in 1946, destemmed and 50% crushed, 50% kept whole berry, wild yeast ferment. Aged in oak, egg and amphora and certified biodynamic. Fragrant, dusty and full of chalky tannins, with crunchy acidity and fine-boned structure. On the nose, redcurrant, blackberry, red dust, dried lavender, rose petals and chunks of aniseed jube. A salty lick of red plum and a hint of sundried tomato. The palate reeks of spice and prickles with life, like firecrackers across the palate. Acid is lifted and full of energy, while the tannins stretch out across the palate – long, reed-like and nimble. The fruit has plenty of fine, porcelain tannins and a grumble of graphite-like minerality. It’s got a red liquorice juby character but stops short of being confectionery. A wine to wake you up and keep your back straight. Layered complexity but plenty of subtle elegance with a bit of wild, unbrushed hair. A real savoury finish and salted liquorice dusty finish make this infinitely moreish and compelling. Just yum. Good length too. A bargain of a wine for this price.
95 POINTS
Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front
From 13.3 hectares of unirrigated bush vine Grenache, planted in 1946. Destemmed then fermented wild as 50/50 crushed and whole berries. Maceration on some parcels was as long as seven months. No pressings used. Matured in old French and Austrian foudres and puncheons, ceramic eggs and amphora. It was bottled in February for release in September, and has only just been sent out now.
It feels nervy at first but it quickly settles and even before it has, a net of tannin has expanded and taken control. This grenache, even as it prances and skits, knows that it’s going to be good. It shows raspberry, cranberry and pomegranate characters, pippy and fruity, light and not light, a fish that can fly across the surface even as it dives for the deep. There’s a cleanliness to this wine but not a sterility; it presents its character in fresh, clean, intertwined lines. At $50 this wine remains a gift; intricacy of fruit, tannin and texture of this nature is rarely within such reach.
