2024 Wirra Wirra The Absconder Grenache

96 POINTS

Ray Jordan - Winepilot

This has been a favourite of mine since it was introduced a few years ago. Two separate parcels have been vinified using open fermenters and a portion of whole bunches, with extended time on lees. It’s an important process, producing wines that are elegant and medium weight but brilliantly integrated, with tannins sitting harmoniously within. Opens with red rose petal notes, a touch of raspberry, and a subtle earthiness that expresses Grenache so well. The palate is medium-bodied with a lightish colour, yet shows intensity and good fruit weight. Perfectly integrated and seamless. A classy wine from a very good year.

94 POINTS

Tom Kline - Winepilot

Warm sand meets pure, lifted red fruits — raspberry coulis, redcurrant, Bing cherry and mashed strawberry — with white pepper, violets and baking spice adding savoury interest. Dried herbs and red liquorice notes emerge with air. The palate is medium-bodied but weightier than the perfume suggests, remaining decidedly red-fruited. Raspberry, red rose, earth and cocoa powder flow through the mouth. The tannins are fine-but-firm and grainy, while a latent surge of acidity freshens a long finish. Pretty and lifted, yet packing real punch, this rings true to the modern McLaren Vale Grenache renaissance style. A very strong release.

94 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2024 The Absconder Grenache comprises a blend of two sites in White's Valley. One is an organically grown bush-vine block planted in the 1960s, and the other is on terra rossa soils, planted between 1970 and 1990. Aromatically, the wine leads with raspberry seed, cracked peppercorns (in that lovely blood orange way of pink peppercorns), layers of cocoa and tobacco. The palate follows with tapenade and cold black tea and is threaded with caper brine acidity. The wine is powerful and concentrated, but it isn't heavy; and its construction has meant that it retains some levity in the mouth. It was made with some whole bunches in small open fermenters, was basket pressed and had an élevage in French oak puncheons. 2024 is proving to be quite an impressive year in South Australia—one awaits the releases with great anticipation. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

93 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

New label design. The heavy bottle remains. Wirra Wirra is now using the old “serious fun” slogan – as used by 80% of wineries around the world. There’s a rusty, mineral-laden edge to this wine, which combined with saltbush and bay leaf notes pushes this wine into saline, savoury territory. All this is of course is backed by pure, ripe, red berried fruit flavour, though importantly this fruit flavour never turns dark or heavy, which helps promote finesse, drinkability, and a general lithe impression. This is a precise, immaculate grenache. There’s a touch of alcohol warmth but in general this wine feels measured, perfumed and polished. A good deal of pleasure is the end result.