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Description
Sourced from 100-year-old bush vines planted by Bernard Smart in 1922, this is a Grenache with some serious pedigree. The Clarendon site sits higher and cooler than Blewitt Springs, and that elevation comes through in the wine’s lifted aromatics and crunchy, mineral-driven palate.
The 2023 vintage has delivered something really special here. It opens with a savoury perfume - bay leaf, rose petal, mint and a flicker of peppery spice - wrapped around a core of bright cranberry and cherry fruit. The palate is fresh and snappy, all red berries, wild herbs and a splash of wet slate minerality. Tannins are fine and stony, keeping the finish clean and long.
This is a more savoury, structured expression than its Blewitt Springs siblings - made gently in open fermenters, matured mostly in stainless steel to keep all that brightness and purity intact. A brilliant look at the cooler, more refined side of McLaren Vale Grenache.
96 points
"Darker fruit profile, but without density. Assured, poised and intricately structured. Dark cherry, rubbed rosemary, a seam of spice. It’s a beautiful framework, with the temptation to over-decorate through winemaking resisted."
- Nick Ryan (The Australian)
95 points
"This is the palest and prettiest of the single-vineyard trio, with wild raspberry, redcurrant, sour cherry, cranberry, a hint of rose and dried orange peel, the feel engagingly savoury and refined, cinched by fine, skinsy tannins, chewy, sandy and pithy. This expands beautifully with air and promises to be singing on release."
- Marcus Ellis (Halliday Wine Companion)
95 points
"Very good. Expressive and kind of fine-boned in a way, and comes over more than a little like Nebbiolo. Give it a year or two more in bottle, I’d say."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
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