CLARENDON HILLS Clarendon Onkaparinga Grenache, McLaren Vale

This wine from vineyards in San Martín de Unx shows the personality of Garnacha from the Baja Montaña de Navarra and the wine-growing roots of this medieval town. The vineyards for this wine are 35 years old and sit on the slopes of the Zaramendi area at an altitude of more than 600 meters. The resulting Garnacha has intense floral and spicy aromas. Fresh and energetic, with slender and delicate structured tannins. A wine with true character.

Serrat is the small-scale Yarra Valley venture of winemaker Tom Carson and his wife Nadège. Inspired by high-density European viticulture, the vineyard is planted at 6,600 vines per hectare. This intense root competition restricts yields, resulting in fruit of natural concentration and balance. It stands as one of the few examples of cool-climate Grenache in the country. Winemaking is low-intervention. Hand-harvested fruit is fermented with wild yeasts and a small component of whole bunches. Maturation takes place in large, seasoned French oak puncheons and casks, allowing the variety's pure character to show without heavy wood influence. The nose delivers lifted perfumes of red cherry, wild strawberry and pomegranate, accented by rose petal and subtle spice. Medium-bodied and silky on the palate, it offers crisp red-berry flavours, fine chalky tannins and bright natural acidity that drives a long, fresh finish.

The Rozas 1er cru Garnacha is, as the name says, classified premier cru by Comando G. Elegant and poised, this wine is a step up in classification and altitude, sitting above the Rozas Villages vineyards close to the ceiling beyond which growing grapes isn't really viable. The brick-red tinge to the colour bring Langhe to mind, Nebbiolo specifically, and there are more hints of that in the glass. The colour and the approachability owe a lot to the greater presence of silt midst the layers of granite. For the 1er cru, the vines are older, the soils are lighter and the altitude of the vineyard is higher than the village showing that signature highwire Sierra de Gredos/Comando G acidity.