Winemaker Elena Brooks has a unique ability to heighten the aromatic power and flavour of Grenache, and this wine is her pinnacle release of the variety.Bright medium to deep ruby. Seductive florals, strawberry, violets, raspberry jube and rose petal. An amalgam of gentle flavours with sweet cherry and strawberry, over satin-soft tannins with superb length. A beautifully made wine.

CLARENDON HILLS Clarendon Onkaparinga Grenache, McLaren Vale

A vibrant purple hue in the glass. Brooding but fleshy aromatics are laced with an herbal spice note. Tannins are prominent but don’t dominate – cherry pip flavours wash over the mid palate. A savoury finish with an immense length and persistence. This wine will blossom with some bottle age.

"A smart blend" (Halliday) with Golds, Platinum and 94-96pt scores. From the very gifted winemaker Elena Brooks. "Flavours skip through sour plum, wild raspberry, blackberry pastille, soft licorice, ground ginger, dark rye, mace and a certain tarriness, measured but robust tannins closing out. It’s a smart blend, pulpy, chewy, multi-layered and bursting with flavour. 95pts” (Marcus Ellis, The Halliday Wine Companion). "Rich and intense on the palate with loads of blue fruits and dark earth minerality... it rolls long and weighty with supple tannins ensuring the drive is clear, focused and very long. 95pts” Stuart Knox, The Real Review). Ken Gargett, WinePilot adds that it is "Stunning stuff... A silky palate, very long and seamless with soft and sleek tannins. An enticing style which is utterly delicious. 96pts".

The now much sought after Righteous range of wines from Kym Teusner was first established in 2005 with the Grenache and this is the latest incarnation of this foreboding Barossa wine. Sourced from an 80 year old bush-vine vineyard, the Righteous Grenache was gently crushed and fermented in open fermenters with regular pump-overs. Maturation was completed in a mix of French and American oak and has resulted in a modern classic Grenache.

This is drawn from two parcels on the steep, granitic slopes of Saint-Jean-de-Muzols, the historic heart of Saint-Joseph that lies opposite the hill of Hermitage. Three-quarters of the blend comes from 1980s planted Syrah, while the remainder of the vines were planted in the 1950s. Both parcels are organically farmed without herbicides by the Desbos family, and both lie on steep gradients that necessitate work by hand and horse only. In the cellar, the winemakers work with around 20 to 30% whole bunches, and the wine matures for one year in used ex-Burgundy 228-litre oak casks for 11 months, followed by six months in tronconique. Bottled unfiltered, it’s a layered, deep, rocky style of St-Jo, with taut red and blue fruits complemented by crushed stone, dried dark flowers and iron filing nuances.

Théo Dancer, like his father, is a big fan of Grenache. The vineyard he works with is in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes (between Orange and Montélimar) near Cairanne. It’s a beautiful, shaded vineyard that looks out to Mont Ventoux, and the soils are littered with smooth galets roulés (the rounded stones that dominate so much of the southern Rhône). The vineyard has been managed organically for years—a key attraction for Théo. This 2023 is an engaging whole-bunch Grenache through a Burgundian lens. The fruit was harvested in late August and fermented as whole clusters, and the wine was raised in used 456-litre barrels. The stems are perfectly integrated, bringing freshness and lift to the wine’s ripe, fleshy-yet-floral core. Expect a Pinot-lover’s style of Grenache, with lots of orange rind, crushed blackberry and wild rose notes among the aromas, and a fleshy yet fine, super-floral palate with powdery tannins in abundance. A remarkable and unique interpretation of Grenache!