2023 MMAD Grenache
Our third year tending to the old vines was our latest and coolest vintage yet. The late season gave a wide picking window, allowing us to harvest fruit at optimal ripeness. As aresult, concentration and depth of flavour are balanced withlovely, cool-season aromatics. Intense red fruit and bakingspice continue through to a silky mid-palate, where lengthytannins effortlessly tie it all together. The grapes were mostlydestemmed, and fermented in wood and concrete beforeaging in large, old French oak.
"There's energy and then there's the kind of exuberance that comes from the well-drained, ancient, sandy soils of Blewitt Springs that can take the energy levels in a wine up a notch or three. The MMAD crew direct that energy into one exciting Grenache. Eye-catching, bright purpley-grape hues. Super bright aromas, all black pepper and gentle florals, plum and cherry with a touch of maraschino cherry and musk. A cooler vintage has brought the black pepper out to play. It's a striking aspect to the wine, nestling in naturally amongst the black, red fruits, earth, mineral and spices, providing that extra energetic rush via some lively acidity. This is a leading example of the type of quality and class of McLaren Vale Grenache now being celebrated, with elegance and texture threaded in fine tannins. The result is a wine that is both immediately engaging while also showing a developing complexity with the kind of seriousness that is compelling and attention worthy."
96 POINTS
Jeni Port, The Wine Pilot
Grown on Maslin sand, with the oldest grenache vines planted in '39. Floral and sultry, with intense red fruits, dark raspberry, macerated strawberry and pomegranate juice, cracked whole spices, coal dust. There are black cherry notes, too, with a certain darkness to the vivid and lively fruit profile, the old vines having their say, perhaps. That quality is repeated on the palate, with the silkiness those vines yield a feature of all the releases thus far, the tannins resolute and resolved, carrying the flavours long. There’s a clear thread emerging with the MMAD wines that tell a distinctive story of place, and it’s one that’s exciting to watch unfold.
96 POINTS
Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
Bilberry, Acai and boysenberry. A hint of kirch and lilac florals. Sandy tannins that spread like a fine gauze across the palate. This vintage shows a brooding side with a darker and deeper core of spice. There is some brown spice of cocoa and crushed black peppercorn too. This is always a very tangible and textural wine experience with savoury notes underpinned by purple florals and black fruit. Stay with this wine a while and it will unfurl in its nuance and detail, drink it swifty and you'll be equally chuffed. I think a flakey meat burek beside this wine would be a very handy lunch or dinner. Drink now or will cellar well for another 5-8 years.
95 Points
Shanteh Wale, The Wine Pilot
Also available in Magnum format (1500ml) in the following vintages: