Thistledown 'The Vagabond' Old Vine Grenache 2022

Quite an unusually elegant take on Grenache which almost has a Pinot Noir like delicacy. The fruit for this is from low yielding 70 year old unirrigated bush vines from Blewitt Springs in the McLaren Vale region south of Adelaide. About 70% of the wne was fermented in concrete in layers of whole bunch and crushed fruit while the remainder underwent wild fermentation in an open fermenter. It was then aged for 10 months in French oak puncheons. The wine is violet scented with bright red fruit on the palate with a subtle savoury oak mingling through it. The crisp acidity and fine tannins give just the right balance and structure as it leads to a warm silky finish.

Its violet and wild-cherry notes come into their own alongside roast duck or game birds with rosemary and orange, as the aromatics mirror the herbs and citrus very well.

Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke and Fergal Tynan founded The Thistledown Wine Company in South Australia's Adelaide Hills in 2010. At their small winery they aim for lithe, energetic wines that illustrate the benefits of great sites and intelligent, low-intervention winemaking. They share a particular passion for Grenache and they source fruit from the best of the rich patchwork of South Australian vineyards and work in their own inimitable style make wines of subtlety, texture and detail designed to complement rather than overwhelm food. Their small batch, hand-made wines are always full of character.