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Gorgeous Grenache Blanc

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Tasting Notes
Points & Awards - 2023 Vintage

93 points & Special Value Star - Halliday Wine Companion (James Halliday)

91pts JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
The best vintage of this super value wine. Mid-weighted and very expressive, delivering a textural loom of viscosity and phenolics, unravelling an edgy thread of freshly cut mint, yellow plum, guava and a truss of dried herb strewn across a long weave. A wine for the drinker who prizes texture as much as the one who gets a thrill from more obvious fruit.
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

92pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
92pts JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
From an established site in the Vale, in addition to a new one in Riverland. Cellaring capacity has been increased, allowing for extended skin work. And it shows. Fermented wild in an egg and used French oak. Light years from the last vintage, showcasing poached quince, rooibos and the juiciest nashi pear imaginable, all blended with fennel and pistachio. Mid-weighted and layered, a trajectory of fruit sweetness and a spherical texture all sitting in the mouth with an immaculate poise. We should be making more wine like this!

92pts Decanter (Rise of the Riverland: 15 top wines to try)
A blend of mature Riverland and biodynamic McLaren Vale fruit, whole-bunch pressed and oxidatively handled before wild fermentation in concrete and older oak. The nose is rather shy, with a restrained minerality pushing through ripe nashi pear, orange rind and subtle chamomile note. What a nubile and generous palate though! A finely milled texture and lively acidity keep this wine in harmony with the lemon skin, pear flesh, green apple and almond tone. The finish conjures up sundried sea salt on a rocky shore. A win for South Australian Grenache Blanc!

91 pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Citrus, fresh strawberry, honey, a little mint and fennel. It’s juicy, some lemon zest, saline and savoury, but with succulence of honey and raw almond, green herbs, kind of waxy too, but fresh on the finish, and again that gently bitter zesty character giving it a little extra twist of personality. You know you’re talking so hip, you’re twisting my melons, man. Step on.

90pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate
After doing many tastings of Grenache Blanc (from barrel or tank) in McLaren Vale in June 2022, I am utterly convinced that this is a variety that goes well in South Australia and is a variety that bears many opportunities for producers in the future. Most importantly, as a drinker, it is delicious. The 2022 Gorgeous Grenache Blanc is filled to the brim with spiced pear, crunchy green apple, lychees and brine. The acidity is juicy, and the whole thing has a satisfying, endless summer vibe to it. Though it's not complex, it’s so delicious that it does not matter.

Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Very light, bright colour; aromas are elusive but clean, with a trace of straw, a hint of honeysuckle, the palate restrained, very dry and delicate, with tension and refinement. It's certainly not your fat, flabby grenache blanc style. Indeed, the opposite. Appetising, more-ish wine.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

92 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
'It looks a very promising vintage in South Australia, 2021.
They’ve got this just right. Offers some perfume, fleshy lemon and green pear flavour, balanced acidity, a pleasing saline feel, chalky texture, and a slightly bitter ‘real lemonade’ aftertaste on a finish of good length. Affable. Charming. Great to drink.'

90 points - James Suckling (Nick Stock)
'I like the mix of fresh-pear and lemon aromas and flavors that this delivers. The palate has some freshness and cut with a soft, fleshy core. Easygoing. A blend of Riverland and McLaren Vale.'

90 points (BEST NEW RELEASES) - Gourmet Traveller Wine
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

92 points - Halliday Wine Companion (Tony Love)
'Obsessed grenache enthusiasts, Thistledown have searched out a few blocks of its white variant for this perky little number. Airs of poached pear (fruit and liquid), a faint spice note, perhaps a honeysuckle vibe, all held neatly in check. While there's a lovely tang mid palate, the drinking reveals a mouth-watering chalky texture that stays in the zone effortlessly. Lots to like here.'

91 points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'Lemon verbena, green pear, the white bits of strawberries. It’s bright and energetic, citrus and unripe strawberry tang, chalky and dusty texture, zingy and firm to finish. Saline. They’ve done very well here. Not flabby. Excellent drinking. Should go all right with a couple of years on it too.'

92 points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
‘Medium straw-gold colour. Very exotic nose, honeysuckle, cinnamon and green apple notes. The palate is all zip and zing. White berries, lemon thyme and saline minerality all combine with a taut acid line and a dusty fuzz of phenolics. This variety should have a great future in Australia.’

BRONZE MEDAL Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2020

Great Escape Chardonnay

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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

93pts & Special Value, Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
93pts Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com
Wild fermented in a combination of used French oak and a concrete egg. Mlf was discouraged to retain acidity. More flavourful than in recent years. Stone and orchard fruits spill across gentle acid rails. The fruit intensity verges on palate staining, yet the feel is mid-weighted, nicely slippery, moderately fresh and not dissimilar to a Mâcon from a warmer vintage, despite it being a cooler one in these parts.

92pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate
The 2022 Great Escape Chardonnay is from the Eden Valley, in Barossa, and shows all the mineral tannin and subtle nuttiness that we expect from the region. I enjoyed this more than previous vintages, perhaps due to the extreme youth of the wine, which cauterizes some of the tropical fruit characters that seem to emerge with the high diurnal range of the area, replacing them with a cooling, mineral feel. Very good, lean and taut.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

93pts Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
Compact and more tightly strung than its predecessor. A great vintage. Classy oak sets the tone, imparting cedar, vanilla and toasted hazelnut accents while evincing structural authority. The acidity, palpably natural. Beyond, nectarine, white peach and lees-derived nougat, dried tatami straw and truffle. I’d like to see this with full malolactic conversion. A fine effort.

91 points - The Wine Front
Fine-boned wine offering white peach, nougat, and a little spicy oak. It’s fresh, not so concentrated, but lovely to drink, a fine dusty texture, and ripe lemon, with a gently nutty finish of solid length. A pleasing cool feel to the wine, and I’d suggest it will develop quite nicely over the next couple of years.
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

90pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
‘An open-knit impression from the outset with bright melon, as well as some citrus and peaches. The palate is smooth, fresh and fruit-focused. Drink now. Screw cap.’
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

90pts
The Wine Advocate
"There are 400 cases of the 2018 Great Escape Chardonnay, and most of the wine was made in steel and concrete. The 10% that was fermented in French oak gives the wine just a hint of toast and cedar, but it's mostly about white peaches and citrus. Medium-bodied and silky-textured, it finishes crisp and mouthwatering."

90pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'Once upon a time, the label was quite plain, and in a review of the 2014, I commented on Steve
McQueen on a motorcycle, going through the Adelaide Hills. And now the label seems to be just
that. So, my usual moronic introductions sometimes find an appreciative home, I guess.'
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

90 pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
A mix of hand and machine-picked, the former whole-bunch pressed and wild-fermented in used French hogsheads, no mlf, with regular stirring; the machine-picked portion was whole-berry pressed. This is as honest as they come, and can't be compared to Margaret River or Yarra Valley. Rich, peachy fruit will attract those wanting something to get their teeth into. Love the label.
Points & Awards - 2015 Vintage

93pts
Tony Keys
"A gentle start that builds as it travels. “Crisp” was the word that came to mind. 93 points and good value at $25"
Points & Awards - 2014 Vintage

92pts
Tony Keys, www.thekeyreport.com.au
"Classic chardonnay on the nose, maybe with a hint of nectarine, or unripe peach (couldn’t pin it) tight structure all across the palate as if the wine was tense, it could do with loosening up a little, I found it better at the table where food seemed to fill the wine out"

91pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"Steve McQueen on a motorbike, roaring through the Adelaide Hills? Whaite peach, preserved lemon, cucumber dusted with white pepper and spice. Light bodied, spicy white fruit flavours, a bit of citrus, chalky powdery texture and a tight finish with some attractive bitterness. It's got flavour, but its very much a cooler expression of Chardonnay. Good to drink"

90pts
James Suckling
Points & Awards - 2013 Vintage

Silver Medal
International Wine Challenge 2015

Walking with Kings Roussanne Grenache Blanc

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Tasting notes
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Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

95pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
A blend of 60% roussanne, the remainder grenache blanc. This is excellent. The kind of varieties, despite the young vines, boding so well for a bright future. Tatami straw, lemon drop, quinine, pickled stone fruits and ginger. Long and drawn out across a spindle of tannin chew as much as an intuitive verb of maritime freshness. Soft, mind you, but perfectly positioned. A mid-weighted wine of textural tapestry, poise and verve.

94 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
Lemon zest, honey and almond, green apple and pear, with a little perfume of aniseed and dried herb. It’s waxy and rich, yet fresh and bright with tart white fleshed fruit, a chalky and gently bitter phenolic pucker, a distinctly saline/oyster shell character, with honey gloss and a pithy finish of excellent length. You have to dig these white Rhône styles, maybe, though I like this a lot.

93pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate
The 2022 Walking With Kings Roussanne Grenache Blanc was sourced from McLaren Vale. Both varieties were handpicked and barrel fermented utilizing wild yeasts. The nose is soft and round with honeydew melon, spiced pear and orchard fruits. In the mouth, the wine is both complex and pert; the texture is complex and softened, thanks to the élevage in oak, while the acidity is tense and bright—a handy juxtaposition in a summer wine. Very smart.

93pts Decanter (Wines for the Weekend)
A new wine from this exciting label: Roussanne fermented in 25% new French oak and
biodynamically farmed Grenache Blanc oxidatively fermented in concrete. Bold yet elegant, waxy quince, apricot blossom and a fresh apple crunch with a chalky texture.

16.5/20 points – JancisRobinson.com
60% Roussanne, fermented in French oak (30% new). 40% Grenache Blanc fermented separately, mostly in concrete. The name is a reference to the poem 'If' by Kipling.
Lovely pure apricot fruit, very well-integrated high acid (too often these wines taste over-acidified, but not this one). There's a bitter herbal finish that really works, giving a savoury twist to the ripe but restrained fruit. (RH)

Suilven Chardonnay

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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

93pts
Gary Walsh,The Wine Front
'Most often, the best policy with wax capsules is just to go straight in with the corkscrew and
wrench hard. I’ve cut my fingers too many times trying to be fancy like a sommelier. Don’t get
me started on that hard chippy wax that Foillard and Raveneau use… Anyway, concrete egg
and barrel used in this wine, fruit hand-picked from a single vineyard, though I’m not sure which
vineyard that is.
Spicy Japanese ginger oak, almond, a minor amount of struck match, white peach and lemon
zest. It’s fine and slightly milky in texture, has a soft grip and texture, again the ginger over
peach and pink grapefruit. It finishes pretty long, with an almost chalky texture. High quality,
obviously still quite young, and feels in evolution; like it’s going somewhere better, for sure.’

93pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
‘Attractive lemon-pastry aromas with grapefruit and a gently flinty edge, too. The palate has a fresh, juicy feel with bright lemons, as well as a layered texture and white peaches to close. All here. Drink over the next five years.’

93 Points - The Wine Advocate
‘Hand-harvested from a few rows of a single vineyard and fermented in barrel and concrete egg, there are only 820 bottles of the very fine 2019 Suilven Chardonnay. Boasting restrained aromas of pencil shavings, pear and citrus, it's medium-bodied but generous, with a wonderfully silky texture on the palate, round, ripe melon flavors and a harmonious, lingering finish. Drink it over the next 4–5 years.’
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

91 Points
James Halliday Wine Companion
‘This is an artisanal light to barely mid-weighted chardonnay. Fermented wild in both barrel and concrete egg, before extended lees contact and blending across a ruthless barrel selection. The aromas are subdued, with butter scotch, finger lime and oatmeal flavours expanding across the mouth with some air injection. The finish, gentle, effortless and of decent linger. A work in progress.’

95 pts
Nick Butler, The Real Review
"Wild honey and nougat, figs and lemon flesh - a complex and slightly wild bouquet. When sipped, it shows a rare minerality and softness, just enough acidity and fruit flesh to compel the next sip. Immense potential. Beautifully made."

92pts
The Wine Advocate
"The 2018 Suilven Chardonnay comes from just three rows of handpicked fruit in the Adelaide Hills, which yielded just over 100 cases. Modest hints of toast and smoke frame notes of white peach and citrus in this silky-textured, medium-bodied effort. It's an easy-drinking wine, but it has more intensity than the Great Escape Chardonnay and enough acid backbone to think it should drink well through 2024."
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

95pts
James Halliday
"Hand-picked from a single vineyard, whole-bunch pressed, wild-fermented in both barrel and a concrete egg, extended lees maturation before a strict barrel selection. A worthy wine, introducing complexity without diminishing the stone fruit and grapefruit varietal expression."

94pts
Huon Hooke
''Very light colour. A shy, reserved and youthfully straightforward minerally bouquet, which is nevertheless clean and fresh. The palate is also reserved and tight, also clean, intense and refined, with some nutty lees and oak subtleties, and a very long, intense aftertaste. Refined and pure. A lovely wine with a future.'

93pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"Adelaide Hills chardonnay. Wild yeast, high solids, a combination of concrete eggs and new French oak. Effortless chardonnay. Elegance is both its surname and its title. Everything here feels free to roam. Chalk, spice, stonefruit and vanilla pods. Everything light and airy, succulent, arms outstretched, open to the world. You get the picture. It’s a pleasure to spend time with it."

93pts
James Suckling
"Attractive, fresh white-peach and lemon aromas with gentle, praline-like oak nuances and baking spices. The palate has a fresh, pure and lively core of lemons and mangoes. Drink now."

93pts
Natasha Hughes MW
"Subtly hedonistic. The linear palate shows a core of pure, juicy white peach and citrus fruit, tinged with smoky minerality. Plenty of focus on the long finish."
Points & Awards - 2016 Vintage

95 pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
‘Ultra-deluxe packaging. Leviathan bottle, high-quality cork (well, it costs more than a screwcap), and then my bète noire: the grey-black label with red font reads ‘Bottle no. 313’. Of 314 or 5000 bottles? Stuff it, I do love the moody label. The wine? I’m very acid-tolerant, and always have been. This trembles on the brink.’ 13% alc. To: 2026."
Points & Awards - 2015 Vintage

17.5 pts
Julia Harding MW, www.jancisrobinson.com
"This is an impressive barrel-fermented Chardonnay. Creamily delicious and super-fresh with pure clean citrus core and rich leesy texture. A paragon of barrel-fermented Chardonnay. Impressive depth and length without loss of freshness"

93pts+
Tony Keys, www.thekeyreport.com.au
"A most intriguing nose that changed from fruit notes to slightly feral and back to fruit, being safe I will stick with complex. That’s complex good not complex poor. A wide spectrum of flavour across the palate but still holding back, there is more to come from this wine and the structure is there to support it ageing. I’m on the mean side pointing it at 93 but feel two if not three or four more points to come within the next three years, it might appear pricy at $70, but I’ve paid three times that price for a Burgundy not as good"

17pts
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
"Definite vanilla note initially here, plus lightly spicy and oatmeal aromas of restrained oak. Fuller bodied than I expected on the palate, striking an excellent balance of freshness and full spicy citrus flavour. Well sustained, juicy and lively. (JH)"

93pts
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com
"One of those wines that tastes every bit as good as it looks, this Scottish/Australian collaboration eschews the leaner, reductive, early picked style that's favoured by some winemakers Down Under in favour of something a little more substanial and textured. Deftly oaked, oatmealy and refreshing, with a focus and minerality that wouldn't look out of place in the Côte de Beaune"

17pts
Richard Hemming MW, www.jancisrobinson.com
"Classic modern Aussie Chardonnay - tight and focused but with generous oak and an element of restraint to the citrus fruit. Long, expressive finish. Lovely leesy texture"

93pts
Jamie Goode, www.wineanorak.com
"Very fine and expressive with nice pure citrus fruit (lemon and tangerine), and more than a bit of finesse. Bright, focused, pure and elegant with real drive. It's currently showing some spicy, cedary oak notes, but it's sophisticated, linear Chardonnay with massive potential for development. 93/100"

94pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"Subdued pristine style. Cool white fruit, cucumber, fennel, almond and light spiced oak. Pure acidity, white peach and oatmeal, clean long finish with a strike of flintiness to the texture. Much to like here; whispers persuasively rather than shouts"

Gorgeous Grenache Rosé

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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2023 Vintage

Erin Larkin, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate
Shock! This 2023 Gorgeous Grenache Rosé is bright and fragrant, but this year it smells of tropical thiols, passion fruit and pineapple. If served to me in a black glass, I'd swear blind that this was a Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. The palate is soft and wide, in keeping with the phenolic, low-acid profile of Grenache; however, it still behaves like a complex Sauvignon Blanc. I can't get over it. It's crunchy, fresh and bright, tropical. This is lovely summer drinking here.

Ned Goodwin MW JamesSuckling.com
Fruit is swept in from across the state to craft a tactile, mid-weighted rosé, packing a parry of fruit and a thrust of just the right amount of structural tension, doused in refreshing salinity. Crushed musk, cranberry, orange pekoe and lavender. The mid-coral hue espouses confidence, rather than suggesting anything anodyne or herbal. A subtle drape of sweetness across the finish.
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

91pts Stuart Knox, The Real Review
Bright coral pink hue. Fragrant with classic strawberries and cream notes but also a hint of bitter herbs too. Has a depth and weight on the palate which appeals as the ripe red berries and amaro herb notes layer across the tongue. Good length and finely framed acidity carries it long. Food will be beneficial here as well.

90pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate
The Gorgeous range of wines from Thistledown are just that: uncomplicated, sleek, classy quaffers. Very good things. This 2022 Gorgeous Grenache Rosé is fresh and bright, with summer raspberries, a flick of exotic spice and some green tea tannins through the finish. Very good summer drinking!
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

GOLD MEDAL WINNER
Global Fine Wine Challenge 2021

BEST ROSÉ
Vintage Cellars

16.5/20 points JancisRobinson.com
Single-vineyard bush-vine Grenache from Riverland.
Pale baby pink. Pleasingly unconfected on the nose, and there's the same sort of herbal garnish that their white Roussanne/Grenache Blanc shows. It's weighty but not heavy. The fruit gives a lot of primary pleasure and has a serious edge that is very savoury and gastronomic. (RH)
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

TOP VALUE & 95pts - Amanda Yallop, The Real Review
'Flamingo-pink hue. Intense bouquet, rosewater, Aperol, red berries, sweet vanilla and clove. Dry, savoury and spicy flavour profile, ripe apples, cranberry, red skins and toast. Medium-bodied, with a slippery texture that indicates extended time spent on lees.'

92 pts & GREAT VALUE - Tony Love, Halliday
'Glossy salmon pink, with all the nice things grenache does in rosé land. Lifted strawberry smells, promising a creaminess even early on. There's just enough tang of fresh red berries, just enough talc-like feel in the mouth, just enough light spice to spruik the lingering finish. All that's needed is a sunny afternoon and fun friends.'
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

93 pts
Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
"It’s instantly appealing on the nose showing raspberry, cranberry, citrus and floral aromas, followed by a juicy palate that’s lively and lingering. The wine offers pristine fruit flavours together with rounded mouthfeel and vibrant acidity, finishing long and mouth-watering. At its best: now to 2021."

92 pts
Nick Butler, www.therealreview.com
"Bright, pale pink colour. Raspberry and musk, loads of personality, lifted aromatics that draw you back to the glass. It's pleasantly sweet - again, with musk and toffee apple teasing then tapering into a balanced, crisp finish. Lovely wine."

Gorgeous Grenache

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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

90pts - Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
90pts - Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com
Sourced from a patchwork of older sites in Riverland, with back-burners of shiraz (4%) and mataro (1%) in the mix. Wild fermented in large neutral oak with a good seasoning of whole bunches. No fining or filtering, serving to retain the integrity of fruit while promoting its natural energy. Sappy, fruity and punchy. Full-bodied, yet you'd hardly know it. Nothing at all heavy here. Drinks like a candied pinot, reeling off notes of rosehip, maraschino cherry and Seville orange before a bristle of bunchy tannins concludes.

90pts - Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Bright medium depth purple-red hue with a beautifully fragrant aroma of rose petals, mixed spices and red fruits, raspberry uppermost. It's light bodied and soft, low in tannin and easy drinking young. A short but pretty grenache.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

92pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'Juicy red fruits, almond, a fair bit of spice, perfume and a little mint. Medium-bodied, a light dusting of tannin, clean acidity, red fruit succulence, but keeps itself dry and almost a little serious. Finish is good, gently saline, with playful tannin and quiet perfume. Delightful. Top value.'

91pts Decanter (Rise of the Riverland: 15 top wines to try)
Fruit from Riverland and McLaren Vale vineyards vinified separately using wild fermentation and whole-bunch inclusion. Bright red fruit aromas with a lifted pepper note. The palate is slurpy, moreish and nimble on it’s feet, yet with sizeable length of flavour: strawberry, cranberry and star anise, with a slightly slatey minerality, fine tannins and a linear acid line. The supple fruit gives way to a savoury finish with meaty umami character. A great-value, lighter-bodied Grenache.

90pts & BEST BUY - Wine Enthusiast

90pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Having spent some time with Giles this past week tasting component parcels of each of the Grenache cuvées that he makes for the Thistledown range, I look at this 2021 Gorgeous Grenache in a whole new light. Yes, it is made in a juicy, easy-drinking fashion. However, the fruit quality that goes into this wine (from both Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale) builds a wine of eminent balance in the mouth. This is lighter-framed and shaped by fine powdery tannins, yet laden with juicy fruit. Plenty to love—drink it early.

90pts Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Medium red colour with a tinge of purple and the aromas are dried herbs and spices, blackberry jam and a suggestion of burnt blackberry jam. There's a core of sweet ripe fruit and then a wash of drying tannins sweeps through. Bold, straightforward and very attractive.

90pts Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
Bright, tangy and easy. Black cherry, raspberry, orange zest and a grind of white pepper. Feels suave and mid weighted, rather than full. A versatile everyday drinker.

16/20 points JancisRobinson.com
Juice bomb (an important difference to fruit bomb!) with, yes, 'gorgeous' raspberry fruit and a simple, fresh, very drinkable style. Savoury finish with a touch of red liquorice and chocolate. (RH)
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

93pts Wine Orbit (Sam Kim)
Beautifully ripe and elegantly perfumed on the nose with dark plum, sweet cherry, olive and roasted nut aromas, it's supple and smooth with excellent fruit intensity and persistency, while remaining elegant and flowing. Comforting and highly enjoyable. At its best: now to 2026.

92pts Ray Jordan
A delightful wine for current drinking. It’s light to medium bodied with the fruit sourced from throughout South Australia. Aromas of rustic strawberry with a little rose petal and spiciness. The palate is soft and supple but with good structure and poise. Bright and lively and a perfect wine for drinking slightly cool.

90pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

94pts
Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
'A fabulous rendition of the variety, showing bright fruit characters of dark cherry and sweet plum
with floral, olive and subtle anise notes on the nose. The palate is equally satisfying with
succulent fruit intensity and lovely mid-palate weight, wonderfully supported by fine texture and
silky tannins, leading to a lengthy supple finish. At its best: now to 2025.'

92pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'It’s labelled as South Australia, which is true enough, though more specifically comes from the
Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. And I think some old vines in the Riverland, though the website
offers conflicting information. Anyway, here’s the wine.
The name is indeed, not misleading. Poached strawberries with fresh mint, some brown spice and musk perfume. It’s supple and juicy, soft powdery tannin, succulence and easy drinking appeal, not over done, and only really medium-bodied. It begins well, and ends well. It’s an easy wine to like.'

90 Points - Wine Spectator
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

92pts
James Suckling
"Unmistakable fresh flowers and red berries here that are delivered amid gently earthy notes. The palate has a plush, vibrant and attractive feel with juicy, upbeat tannins to close. Drink now. Screw cap."

92pts
James Halliday
"Employs old vines in the Riverland, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, matured in used French hogsheads and stainless steel. A confectionery streak was/is inevitable, and others will find it less distracting than I do. Regardless, it's a good drink at the price. Drink soon."

91 pts
Gary Walsh
www.winefront.com.au
"Nice packaging. From the Riverland I believe. By heck love, you smell gorgeous tonight. Spicy, scrub herb and samphire, raspberry. Medium-bodied, gentle lick of tannin, saline and savoury, solid finish. Light, but very easy to like."
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

16 pts
Jancis Robinson MW, www.jancisrobinson.com
"90% Grenache, 10% Shiraz. From old vines grown in Riverland. 33% undergo whole-bunch fermentation using wild yeasts in an open fermenter and foot-trodden twice daily at first, before gentle hand-plunging for the remainder of the ferment. Ferments are then pressed straight to barrel for 6–8 months’ ageing. Pale crimson. Brilliant label. Round and easy – because of the grape not the residual sugar. Fresh and lively."

Top 100 Australian Wines
Matthew Jukes
‘'This wine does not appear in the top 100 but does underline how serious these chaps are about this variety in South Australia – this wine made from pretty, vibrant, juicy Riverland fruit is sublime.’
Points & Awards - 2016 Vintage

91 pts
Campbell Mattinson, www.winefront.com.au
"Varietal. Anise, raspberry, earth and cloves, with attractive/fragrant dry spice notes littered throughout. Clove notes here tip very close to gum nut territory without quite tipping over. If you can put the unfortunate front label out of your mind, this is a very good grenache."

Thorny Devil Grenache

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Tasting note
Points & Awards - 2023 Vintage

93 points – Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com
I always enjoy this wine, the entry point to the glories of McLaren Vale grenache, among the world's finest expressions of this variety. Tamarind, red cherries, mint and sap verging on rhubarb. Almost like a Beaujolais, and yet there is plenty of tannic grit. Cranberry, white pepper, clove and dried thyme notes on a long, gentle finish. Delicious. Screw cap. Drink or hold.

93 points – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
From a selection of old bush vines across McLaren Vale. We don’t know from where, but we trust Giles Cooke MW, Grenache enthusiast, who’s probably over here right now, trailing about somewhere in SA. Cherry, mint, raspberry, something a little steely too, brown spicy and floral. It’s medium-bodied, sappy cherry and coal dust, something a little ozone-like about it (don’t mind me), with plump yet fine grained tannin grip, and a juicy finish of excellent length. Very nice. Fresh. Lively. Gustatory.

92 points – Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2023 Thorny Devil Grenache is routinely a rip-snorting little wine. Raspberry compote, orange peel, black tea, humbug candies and red licorice frame the bouquet, while on the palate, the wine is plush, luxurious and velvety. It's really good—again!
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

TOP 100 AUSTRALIAN WINES – Matthew Jukes Report (The best wines available in the UK for the coming year)
Winemaker Giles Cooke MW is somewhat of a folk here these days, thanks to his work championing the grenache variety. His Thistledown wines have appeared in every one of the last five Best Reports, and they are universally loved by all who taste them. This year, the wine that stood out for me was one of the less expensive wines in his portfolio, but I wouldn’t have known this unless a price tag was stuck on the bottle. Thorny Devil is one of a series of wines I feel is shaped, almost identically, to a Pinot Noir. It is entirely different in flavour, of course, but this lightness of touch, palate pliability and ethereal leaning makes it a wine style that stands a chance of being appreciated by a wide range of palate. In terms of flavour, Giles’ Grenaches range from the lightest cherry, raspberry and cranberry styles right up to darker mulberry and plum versions. At all rungs on the ladder the wines are fruit-driven, cleansing and refreshing. Thorny Devil is made from fruit sourced from various sites, and approximately 30% whole bunches are employed to add bitterness and grip, which offsets the gloriously juicy grenache fruit by adding tension to the whole. Old oak is used to not mark the wine or dry it out. I happen to think 2022 Thorny Devil is the finest value red wine Giles has made since he set out on his odyssey some 13 years ago. Nowadays a good few Aussies are applying their skills to championing this sensual grape, and you will find many of them in this report.

95 points – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Deep purple-red colour; the bouquet has raspberry and blackcurrant pastille aromas, complexed by gentle spice notes. The wine is medium-full bodied and laced with a delicious core of sweet fruit shrouded in emery-like tannins that impart pleasing structure. Good length: a very stylish modern grenache that can be enjoyed young.

94pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
94pts JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
While vintage '22 may not scale the heights of '21, it was another attenuated, Euro-styled year of poise, enough fruit weight and immense freshness. Savoury, the signature. I'll take that over obvious sweetness any day. The first cab off the premier rank. A subregional blend limited to old, dry-grown bush vines. Varying degrees of whole bunches. A number of picking windows, too, to embellish freshness and enough weight. Fermentation is ambient. I'd be hard-pressed to find a better wine than this for the price. Kirsch, ume, cranberry, bergamot and a scape of pixelated tannin, sandy of feel, directing length.

93 points – Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
This is a super little wine. The 2022 Thorny Devil Grenache is spicy, supple and shaped, as all the Thistledown Grenaches are, by ductile, flowing tannins in the mouth. This has shape and form, but it is also a plump, cushioned little number that gives all manner of pleasure. It's a generous, smiling little thing, delicious. There are notes of blood, raspberry, red licorice and ferrous. It is sapid as all get up.

92 points – Gary Walsh, The Real Review
A bit of mint, some char and meaty stuff, raspberry and strawberry, juicy with fine sandy tannin, a little dried rose, and a slightly gritty finish of good length. Good.

SILVER MEDAL - Decanter World Wine Awards 2023
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

95 points – Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Aromas of savory spice, hung deli meat and blood fill the senses, but it is in the mouth where the purity and succulence of the fruit is revealed. This 2021 Thorny Devil Grenache is long and savory, sweet and fine, built into a framework of pliable tannin and exotic spice. Balanced and exciting.

94pts & EDITOR'S CHOICE - Wine Enthusiast

94 points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Perfumed, spicy, cherry and raspberry, almond and Earl Grey tea. It’s medium-bodied, firm but ripe tannin with a graphite feel, kind of dry but succulent, raspberry and roses, with a pleasing tannic crunch and freshness to the long finish. Excellent Grenache. Invigorating.

92 points – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Deepish red/purple colour. Dried and fresh herbs to sniff, background jammy raspberries, the palate continuing the almost lush mouth-feel and fruit depth. It's quite intense and also fairly firm in the tannin department. Very good and has potential.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

93pts JamesSuckling.com (Nick Stock)
An attractively concentrated grenache with aromas of pomegranate and red berries, as well as berry pastry. Vibrant and concentrated on the palate, this delivers juicy textural spring and a good build of flavor and tannin. Drink over the next six years. Screw cap.

91 points - The Real Review
91pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

95pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
'One of the country's finest grenache producers, and on the back of a stellar suite of '18s, Thistledown can do little wrong. An impeccably poised expression of optimal ripeness, a gentle rasp of whole bunch (30%) and flavours of kirsch, poached strawberry, orange peel and cranberry. The lattice of tannins - chiffon-like, granular and deftly extracted - sets this maker apart. A plume of gentle acidity tows it along. Fine gear. Hard to spit!'

93pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
'A very fragrant, aromatic style with attractive, fresh red flowers and sappy, bunchy raspberries
and boysenberries. The palate has a very complete, supple and smooth-honed feel with a
seamless build of finely layered tannins. Drink now. Screw cap.'

92pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'Seems to have moved from the Barossa to McLaren Vale in 2019. Ripe raspberry, brown spice,
subtle earthiness. It’s ripe and spicy, ripples with tannin and raspberry ripple, a bit of
meatiness and minty perfume, slightly saline, plump and juicy finish. Rock solid. Good
drinking here.'

91 Points - Wine Advocate
‘Made with 30% whole clusters and aged in older hogsheads, the 2019 Thorny Devil Grenache blends fruit from several sites in McClaren Vale. Hints of crushed herbs appear on the nose, including mint and bay leaves, plus underlying red berries. Those strawberries and red currants continue on the medium to full-bodied palate, framed by silky tannins and bright acids on a lingering finish. Drink it now and over the next 5–6 years.’

90 Points - Wine Spectator
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

93 Points
James Halliday Wine Companion
‘Fermented with 30% whole bunches, matured in French oak, the best barrels selected for this wine. A fragrant bouquet and fresh red fruit palate. Counterintuitively, significant tannins add a dimension to the juicy fruit.’

#1 2018 Barrosa Valley Grenache Huon Hooke

93pts
Huon Hooke
"Medium to deep red/purple colour. The bouquet is redolent of rose petals, red cherries and raspberries, while the taste is intense and medium to full-bodied, with sweet fruit in the middle, penetrating depth and good persistence".

93pts
The Wine Front
"Giles Cooke MW, head man at Thistledown, is mad for Grenache. He’s a pretty good bloke too, considering you have to be wired a certain way to become a Master of Wine.

Juicy Grenache, as is often the way in the Barossa Valley, but even-tempered and showing freshness, a lick of fine grained tannin, raspberry, spice and roses, a kind of redcurrant and cranberry crunch to the acidity, and a succulent red fruited finish tapered neatly by that fine tannin. It’s very good, and shows sensitivity in the winery too. Respect.”

90pts
The Wine Advocate
"Sourced from Adrian Hoffmann's holdings in the Ebenezer subregion, the 2018 Thorny Devil Grenache is a ruby-hued, medium-bodied expression of Grenache. It's not overly rich, instead offering charming cherry and dried-spice notes backed by slightly coarse-grained tannins on the finish."
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

94pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
"Very impressive. Still has power at 14% alcohol, and a consequent clarity of flavor in a full red and blue spectrum. No cosmetics, nor Turkish Delight. Well made.’ Screwcap. To: 2027."

92pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com
‘'Interesting to taste Barossa Grenache alongside McLaren Vale. Very different creatures. Poached strawberry, spice, bit of mint and herb, sappy, bright and finely etched tannin, raspberry succulence, saline and good on the finish, fresh mint and herby/ sour tang to close. Nice energy to the wine, I think.'

92pts
James Suckling
"Bright and fresh with loads of orange peel, pink guava, peaches and fresh herbs. Medium body, a tight but spicy palate and a citrus soaked finish. Drink now. Screw cap."
Points & Awards - 2016 Vintage

94pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
“Light, bright crimson; the inclusion of 9% grenache from McLaren Vale has worked very well, for there's a touch more structure and spine than many Barossa Valley grenaches at this price. The red fruits that are the heart and soul of this wine are delicious.”

91pts
Campbell Mattinson, www.winefront.com.au
"Maybe the fruit flavour is a little sweet – we’re into black jellybean and raspberry territory here – but the inlay of spice and gentle infusion of clovey oak is really quite beguiling. Add a general earthiness, excellent flow, and a convincing finish and you have yourself a most attractive wine."

90pts
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep red/purple colour. The aromas are of dark fruits, plums, minty blackberries and a lick of spice. It's bright, bold and simple, the palate lean and sinewy, with lots of fine powdery tannins and good fruit concentration. Very nice grenache."
Points & Awards - 2015 Vintage

Silver Medal
International Wine Challenge 2017

93pts
Tony Keys, www.thekeyreport.com.au
"A plumper wine than the McLaren Vale grenache, it’s rounder on the journey with flavours not as defined. But I am nit-picking. The better review is from the post-tasting glass with snack: I enjoyed that very much and it accompanied a simple supermarket pâté very well"

93pts
James Halliday, Wine Companion 2017
"The mid-palate bursts with raspberried sweetness, pure and exuberant. Outriders of earth, crushed dry spices and licorice add both complexity and breadth. In the end, it cuts a fine figure"

90pts
MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator, USA
"An elegant, juicy mix of raspberry, cherry and pomegranate flavors that are pure and bright, with details of fresh earth, pepper, citrus peel and spice. Drink now through 2026."

92pts
Wines & Spirits Magazine, USA

93pts
Gary Walsh, The Winefront
"I can’t recall where the old vine single vineyard is, but let’s just assume it’s somewhere nice. Spice with a distinct top note of shrubbery and stalk, some floral notes, juicy cherry and raspberry flavour. Medium bodied, attractive grainy tannin and balanced acidity keeps it all trim, and the finish is firm, long and punctuated with a pleasant twist of stalkiness. Certainly has some of that Pinot Noir of the Barossa about it, which is nice."
Points & Awards - 2014 Vintage

92pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"Interesting tasting, and looking at, this wine alongside its McLaren Vale chum (The Vagabond). Quite the contrast, not least in colour, where this wine has a browning tinge, whereas the McLaren Vale wine is lively cherry red. A more spicy, savoury expression of Grenache, and while it does have some pretty florals, it's more earthen and red fruited rather than confected. Medium bodied, almost delicate, with a gentle rasp of tannin, even acidity, and a long spicy finish. It's right in the zone for drinking now. Heaps of charm and drinking appeal."

91pts
James Sucklin

17pts
Jancis Robinson MW
"Pale cherry red. Light, sweet, delicate nose - really quite perfumed - and also very delicate on the palate. This certainly doesn't taste anything like a 15 per cent-er. Very beautiful texture and freshness. Entertaining fruit and very succulent. No jamminess. Bravo! Really super charming with raspberry fruit and just a hint of something medicinal to give it interest. Maybe Barossa has something to teach Chateauneuf?"

92 pts
Jamie Goode, www.wineanorak.com
"From the southern edge of the valley, this is highly aromatic with floral red cherry fruit and a lush, liqueur-like raspberry fruit quality. Supple and smooth in the mouth with bright frsh red cherry fruit. This is a bit Pinot-like, but has a grippy, spicy edge. Such a pretty expression of Grenache."
Points & Awards - 2013 Vintage

90pts
The Wine Spectator
"Vivid and juicy, offering a mouthful of current, dried cherry and red raspberry flavors that are bold and bright, with a hint of orange peel and black tea on the finish. Drink now through 2022. 200 cases imported."

92pts Editor's Choice
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Enthusiast USA
"This bottling is light on its feet for its 15% stated abv, showcasing fresh cherry fruit, gentle herbal notes and silky tannins. Drink now-2022"

90pts
The Wine Spectator
"Vivid and juicy, offering a mouthful of current, dried cherry and red raspberry flavors that are bold and bright, with a hint of orange peel and black tea on the finish. Drink now through 2022. 200 cases imported."

92pts
Wine & Spirit Magazine USA
"Two MWs - Giles Cooke and Fergal Tynan - founded this Adelaide Hills winery in 2010, joining forces with winemaker Peter Leske of Revenir. This is their first vintage of the Thorny Devil, from an old-vine, dry-grown vineyard in Barossa, which they ferment as mostly whole berries without added yeast, then age in old oak barrels. It's a wine with serious structure, the tarry tannins carrying fresh cherry and cranberry flavors without any sense of excess alcohol. There's old-vine complexity in the finish, which lasts, clean and savory."

90pts
Lisa Perotti-Brown MW, www.erobertparker.com
"Pale garnet with a hint of purple, the 2013 Thorny Devil Grenache offers a tantalizing nose of kirsch, red plum preserves and raspberry coulis with nuances of baking spices and lavender. Unashamedly full, rich and packed with red berry and spice flavors, it has lovely silky tannins and great freshness throughout the long finish"

90pts
Tim Atkin
"Juicy, easy drinking Barossa Grenache that carries its alcohol lightly. The oak is well handled here on this wine overseen by Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke and Fergal Tynan. Raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, a touch of oak and ripe, satisfying finish. Try it chilled for maximum pleasure."

Sarah Ahmed, The Wine Detective January 2015
"Following my great Grenache round up last October, Giles Cooke MW dropped me a line to suggest I take a look at Thistledown Grenache....though both share the variety's characterisitic high alcohol, it's worn lightly thanks to a remarkable freshness and levity which allows the details/terroir of each Grenache to shine.

" This deep ruby red has bigger bones. Relatively ample red cherry and berry fruit flesh them out, as does gently creamy vanilla oak. If that was all, it would be well made but not especially interesting. Layers of savoury spice (liquorice), medicinal (coltsfoot), hardpan earth, a touch of frangipane even, rescue it from this fate, as does a firm finish with attractive freshness. Very good."

91pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"Poached strawberry, rapberry, mint and brown spices. It's silky and juicy, tempered by fine graphite tannin, even acidity and has a delicious succulence throughout. Has freshness and vitality, but most importantly, is really good to drink"

90pts 4 stars
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deepish red/purple: a bright, youthful colour. Meaty, charcuterie and dark cherry aromas plus a lick of spice tumble from the glass. In the mouth, its softly textured and medium-bodied and finishes with a touch of bitterness. A very pleasant wine, glycerol-textured and smooth, the bitterness would be easily mopped up by food".

The Vagabond Grenache

Bottle images
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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2023 Vintage

95pts The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
From four old vine, bush vine vineyards in Blewitt Springs. I’m all for single vineyard wines, though sometimes the sum of the parts makes for a more complete wine.
Raspberry, red cherry, violet perfume, some dried herb and spice. It’s medium-bodied, crisp and quite frisky, all red fruits with with some blood orange and pomegranate, almonds too, tannin is all sort of crushed sandstone (or something like that), and the finish is aromatic, long and really quite pretty. Such energy. Lovely.

94pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2023 The Vagabond Old Vine Grenache is succulent and silky and leads with a bouquet as polished and supple as the palate—raspberry pip, cranberry, red cherry, licorice, star anise and layers of Earl Grey tea and violets. It has beautiful clarity and poise, but this is what we have come to expect from this producer. Classy wine.

93 points JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
Beautifully fragrant, mid-weighted grenache. Red-fruit allusions, pomegranate, menthol, dried rose petal and orange zest. 2023 was another cooler attenuated vintage, the last and perhaps the most challenging of a La Nina troika. Elegance writ large here, somehow synergistic with a Mediterranean-accented cru Beaujolais, such is the imminence, freshness, gritty tannin and shimmering transparency.
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

The Real Review Merit Wine Classification
Wines that reliably achieve gold and silver ribbons in recent vintages, with top vintages achieving 95 points or more.

96pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
96pts JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
Blewitt Springs, an Australian grand cru equivalent. Old bush vines, as is the wont. Wild fermented with a good portion of whole bunches, some in concrete pyramids sans agitation, before ageing in concrete and large neutral oak. Brilliant! Like a slinky, before release over the top step, as riffs on persimmon, Seville orange, rosehip, pomegranate and impeccably ripe cherry clafoutis unwind and expand with a rattle. Long. A sandy scape of gorgeous tannins. World class.

94pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Cherry, strawberry, mint and menthol, orange peel. It’s medium-bodied, a juicy red fruit flavour strewn with herbs and spice, supple tannin, and a juicy red fruited finish of fine length and spicy perfume. Nice.

93pts Stuart Knox, The Real Review
Bright ruby and purple tones in a glass that lifts with heady aromas of fresh crushed blueberries and thyme. Palate is bright and fresh with a ripe core of black fruits yet ample savoury dried herbs and meaty undertones already. A gravelly tannin profile ensures it carries long and dries into the finish.

92pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
You can rely on Thistledown for great Grenache. It's their thing. Here, the 2022 The Vagabond Old Vine Grenache leads with a vibrant display of red berries, exotic spices and black olive tapenade in merengue lockstep. There are also notes of poached strawberries, redcurrants, red apple skins and salted licorice. This is a lovely wine. It feels lighter than I remember the 2021 being. It is delicate. I love the bloody tannins, open-weave and chewy. The tannins are the highlight.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

TOP 100 AUSTRALIAN WINES
95pts JamesSuckling.com
Aromas of red cherries, baked strawberries, violets, crushed stones and suede. Medium- to full-bodied with silky tannins. Succulent and mouthwatering. Mineral notes add definition and a hint of saltiness, which creates wonderful integration with the pretty red fruit. Floral as well. Lovely. Vegan. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

95+pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2021 The Vagabond Old Vine Grenache is exotic, fine and layered with silty, black tea tannins. It is the mid-palate onward where the succulence of fruit is revealed, and this comes across as fine but flows up with lithe, ripe fruit and complex spice notes. Eminently balanced and poised, this fills the mouth and the mind simultaneously. Yes.

95pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
So much perfume here. Dried flowers, thyme, spice, orange peel, raspberry and strawberries. It’s medium-bodied, quite tense and firm, fine sandy grip to tannin, brightness and so much energy, a subtle meaty edge, dry with plenty of grip and superb shape to the long finish, and fresh red fruits and fragrance to close. An outstanding expression of Grenache.

95pts Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Deep, bright red/purple colour, with a fragrant bouquet of black fruits and fresh herbs, aromatic and bold, a hint of coconut, the palate lusciously fruit-sweet at its heart and backed by firm but gentle tannins that are in good balance while supplying appropriate structure. Extra length. I’d give it a year more, but it's a good drink now. I especially enjoy its freshness and vitality.

16.5/20points JancisRobinson.com
Blend of three or four vineyards every year. On average 50-year-old bush-vine Grenache.Sweet red fruit – redcurrant, raspberry, cranberry (like Pinot Noir but without the anaemia). Proper structural grip here, light in body but with furry tannin. Black-olive character on the finish. The delicate side of Grenache. (RH)
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

96 points (5 Stars) - Gourmet Traveller Wine (Nick Stock)
An excellent expression of the powerful potential of old vine grenache from Blewitt Springs. Aromas of blood orange, raspberry and redcurrant, and savoury, stony notes. The palate has sleek, long and persistent shape, the raspberry and redcurrant flavours hold beautifully.

96pts JamesSuckling.com (Nick Stock)
A powerful and detailed grenache that offers up Campari-like red fruit and herbs with raspberries and iron. The palate is polished, in that there’s plenty of ripe, deep-set tannin here, carrying red-fruit flavors long. Drink or hold.

95pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
Borne by elevated sand, flecked with Blewitt Springs ironstone. A wine that sits below the single-vineyard hierarchy albeit can, at times, equal if not better them. Raspberry liqueur, anise, white pepper, lilac and orange zest. Gorgeous aromatics framed by herb-doused tannins. Pinosity and grip. Flare and excitement. Length of finish eased across a throttle of dangerous drinkability.

94 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
'Sourced from three old vine vineyards in Blewitt Springs. Ripe raspberry and cherry, rosemary and thyme, plenty of exotic spice. It’s a lush and fragrant beasty, but has cool cranberry acidity, stony tannin grip and a long fine chalky finish, with savoury dried beef and herb chiming in on the aftertaste. Excellent.'

93 points - The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Medium to deep ruby-red colour with a tint of purple at the rim. Just-crushed forest berries, thyme and meat aromas are present. On the palate, it has a remarkable tension, fine and firm tannins compress the middle whilst a spritz of acidity gives lift and light. Amongst these structures red fruits, mountain herbs and broken slate are layered for intrigue and complexity. It goes very long and drying to the finish. Years ahead of it, if you have the patience.

93pts SILVER McLaren Vale Wine Show
93pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

95 Points
James Halliday Wine Companion
‘I adore this estate's obsession with grenache, quite possibly SA's saviour alongside a swag of Italian indigenes and mataro, especially in lieu of the warming planet, the variety's torrid Mediterranean mettle and the lack of natural structure in shiraz. A delicious full-bodied wine that seems, despite it all, barely mid-weighted. This is due to the maritime salinity, pointed acidity and fishbone tannins, etching the flow of fruit with a detailed edge that confers savouriness and a sense of freshness while corralling persimmon, pomegranate, fecund strawberry and cranberry scents. This is looser knit than the other top cuvees, but no less delicious.’

96pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
'This showcases the power of Blewitt Springs in a very boldly stated, fruit-driven expression of
grenache with real purpose. The aromas are of redcurrants, raspberries, pomegranate and
blood oranges and lead to a palate with a phenomenal drive of acidity and tannin. Such
intense and defined style here. Drink or hold. Screw cap.'

94pts
Nick Butler, The Real Review
'Vibrant crimson-purple colour centre to rim. A very euro bouquet of cured meats, red licorice
and stewed plums. Acidity speaks more of cooler climes - red cherries and raspberries. Oak
and tannin are measured. Blue and red fruits carry the palate. Classy.'

94pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'Blewitt Springs. Creamy raspberry, rosy perfume and spice, maybe a bit of shoe leather and
dried herb. It’s silky, fresh, fine grip of tannin, mint and red fruits, but savoury in the
background, with a coolness and vitality that makes it so charming, and good to drink. Some
red fruit and sap to close. Yes.'

24 Vinous Highlights of 2020 by Sarah Ahmed

93pts Wines & Spirits Magazine

93pts Wine Spectator
'Aromatic and detailed, this red offers juicy maraschino cherry, blood orange, pomegranate, clove, green tea, cedar, lavender and fresh loamy notes that are precise and elegant, followed by a long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2031.'

91 Points - Wine Advocate
‘Herbal and almost tea-like, with an undercurrent of cherries and cranberries, Thistledown's 2019 The Vagabond Old Vine Grenache is a taut rendering of Grenache, marked by a medium to full-bodied palate, silky but pronounced tannins and a tart, almost puckering finish. Give it another year or two to settle down, then drink it over the following 6–7 years.’
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

Trophy - Best Small Batch Wine
McLaren Vale Wine Show 2019

Trophy - Best One Year Old Grenache
McLaren Vale Wine Show 2019

Trophy - Best Grenache
McLaren Vale Wine Show 2019

Gold Medal
McLaren Vale Wine Show 2019

Gold Medal
Six Nations Wine Challenge 2019

96pts
Sarah Ahmed
"From old Blewitt Springs’ bush vines on deep sand, with some ironstone. Fermented using whole bunch, whole berry and crushed fruit, then aged in concrete eggs and oak. It has a lively, citrussy undertow and fine rub of sandpapery tannins to the fragrant red cherry and raspberry fruit. Violets, anise spice and fresh acidity make for a long, lifted finish."

95pts
James Halliday

95pts
James Suckling
"A great address for grenache, this stands out from the rest of the range for more pronounced acidity and tannin. The flowers, dried and fresh raspberries and wild herbal flurries on the nose lead to a palate that has a firm spine of tannin and fresh, blood-orange and raspberry flavors. Drink or hold. Screw cap."

95pts
Huon Hooke, www.therealreview.com.au
"Deep red/purple colour. The bouquet is reserved and sweet, wth herbal, green stem, Turkish Delight and fresh earth aromas. This is medium to full-bodied and quite firmly structured within the Grenache spectrum, a more structured style with length and firmness in the finish. Impressive stuff."

93+ pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"It’s fair to say the boys at Thistledown surely do love their Grenache. This one also Blewitt Springs. Sage and herb perfume, red frogs and raspberry, cinnamon spice. It’s juicy and lively, light herbal flavour, gentle rasp of tannin, delicious flavour, slightly warm, but long on the finish, a bit of gravel and dried herb kicked up in its wake."

92 pts
Wine Advocate
"Sourced from two vineyards in Blewitt Springs and vinified in concrete eggs with 50% whole clusters, Thistledown's 2018 The Vagabond Old Vine Grenache features bright cherry, raspberry and red currant fruit. It's medium to full-bodied but taut and tart, with firm tannins and a long finish. It's a Grenache that could use a bit of time to settle down, then drink well for up to a decade."
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

Silver Medal
McLaren Vale Wine Show, 2018

Silver Medal
James Halliday Grenache Challenge, 2018

96pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
"From old bushvines at Blewitt Springs, matured in a concrete egg and French puncheons (10% new). Ah, take one look at the crystal clear crimson hue and you’ll know the wine comes from old vines in McLaren Vale. What is truly remarkable is the way the wine has soaked up the new French oak without raising a sweat. This is lovely. Screwcap. 14.5% alc. To: 2037."

94pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
''Old vines in Blewitt Springs. 200 dozen made. A bit of liquorice, raspberry, thyme, a little spice. Juicy, expressive and lively, dry and grainy tannin, freshness, good length, perfumed dried herb finish, and a dry one at that too. Fine Grenache here.'
Points & Awards - 2016 Vintage

94pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
"Although the alcohol is the same, this has more power, depth and drive than its Barossa Valley counterpart, which momentarily suggests higher alcohol. It's not, but it certainly needs more time, and will repay the patient in spades”.

93pts
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep purple/red colour and the bold, super-ripe fruit-driven aroma of liqueur prune and blackberry fruit pastilles. It's also bright and bold in the mouth, and quite elegant, with lovely sweet fruit richness. Very much a fruit wine, honest and pleasing, with fruit bonbon characters and soft texture. Delish."

93pts
Dr. Jamie Goode, www.wineanorak.com
"Giles Cooke MW is the dude behind this wine from Thistledown, which is a really beautiful expression of old vine McLaren Vale Grenache. It’s not showy, but just really elegant and with potential for development. 14.5% alcohol. Single site, 80 year old dry grown vines on sandy soils. 35% whole bunches layered alternately between crushed fruit in concrete eggs, with no mechanical extraction at all. This is a lovely, vibrant expression of McLaren Vale Grenache, showing juicy raspberry and red cherry fruit, with some orange peel notes and faint hints of tar and rubber. Bright and with nice structure, melding in well to the fruit to create a really expressive, youthful and elegant wine. Pinot Noir of the south, Grenache, is responding well here to sympathetic winemaking, expressing the brightness of the sandy soils of Blewitt Springs. I’d love to see this in five years’ time."

92+pts
Campbell Mattinson, www.winefront.com.au
"Blewitt Springs. McLaren Vale. Old Vine Grenache. It’s a thing. A good thing. It’s perfumed, it’s ferrous, it’s fleshy but not at the expense of a certain sinewy authority. This is an excellent grenache. Delicate in some ways and certainly light, but complex and earthen, almost ‘ethereal’. All it needs is another couple of years in a cool, dark place."
Points & Awards - 2015 Vintage

95pts
Tony Keys, www.thekeyreport.com.au
"Raspberries and other red berries come to mind on the nose and it’s pure velvet across the palate. More interesting flavours and perfume show themselves on the return journey. A very fine wine indeed"

92pts
James Halliday, Wine Companion 2017
"Red berried fruits, bright and lively, swoosh through the palate, engaging as they go. It's not complex but it's effective. Dry spice, florals and swirls of anise take the idea and run with it. It's not heavy but it's insistent."

92pts
Gary Walsh, The Winefront
"From a seventy something year old vineyard in Blewitt Springs. Red liquorice, red berries and spice, a little rose oil. Plump lush red berry flavour, fine silty tannin, a nice whack of spice and a satisfying finish. Lots to grab onto here, and very easy to enjoy".
Points & Awards - 2014 Vintage

93pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"From a vineyard in Blewitt Springs, with a vine age of something like 70 years. Realised I should have reviewed these some time ago (promises, promises) and went on a mad hunt under the house for it. Some spiders (one dead, one alive), a few mozzies, and a bumpred head later...triumph! Raspberry frogs, dried roses, aniseed and spice. Medium bodied, juicy and packed with red fruits, light glycerol texture and fine powdery tannin, clean cut of acidity, and a long silk finish strapped up with a little new leather. Succulent and lively at once. Tasty stuff."

Gold Medal
Wine Selectors Magazine, Australia
"A deliciously luscious and supple wine, this Grenache opens with vibrant, dark cherry red and earthy dark berry fruit, bramble and complex floral notes on the nose. The palate has juicy layers of plum and black cherry fruit with supple candied confectionary varietals. The tannins are super soft and velvety with mouth-watering acidity driving a long finish. An absolutely beautiful Grenache awarded Gold by all panel members.

92pts
James Suckling

90pts
Lisa Perotti-Brown MW,E-Robert Parker
"Pale ruby/purple, the 2014 The Vagabond Grenache has an intense red currant, red cherry and black raspberry nose with nuances of anise and violets. Full-bodied, rich and expressive, the velvety palate is loaded with fruit and has a very long, spicy finish".
Points & Awards - 2013 Vintage

89pts
Lisa Perotti-Brown MW, E-Robert Parker
"Pale ruby/purple, the 2013 The Vagabond Grenache opens to a pretty kirsch, rose petal and cinnamon stick and dusty earth nose. Full-bodied, soft and silky in the mouth, it has tons of spicy, red berry preserves flavors and a long finish"

93pts
Gary Walsh,The Wine Front
"Aromatic and floral with a smell that puts me in mind of lemon iced tea, which thankfully is a drink I really love. Raspberry and strawberry, sweet spices, rubbed mint and maybe other things too, real or imagined. Medium bodied, fresh and shapely, with crunchy red fruits studded with spice, fne grained kitten's tongue tannin, and a slip of dried herb coming through on a pretty good finish. Effortless drinking".

89pts
James Halliday
"From Blewitt Springs (70yo vines) and Seaview (40yo vines), each vineyard vinified separately, Blewitt Springs cold-soaked 5 days and open-fermented, matured in French hogsheads (20%new); Seaview similar except 5% whole bunches. A barrel selection after 5 months and blended, Blewitt Springs dominant. Light, bright crimson, the wine is built
around red fruits with a contrasting twist of acidity on the finish."

89pts
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Medium red/purple colour. Dried herb, nettley aromas, savoury and non-fruity, with a note of Kiwi shoe-polish! It's medium-bodied at best, with a tight, firm palate structure, nice balance and good length. The high alcohol doesn't show"

Rose Murray Brown MW, The Scotsman
11th October 2014
"Australian show-stoppers a thing of the past"
"A more serious effort as you would expect from the price. A blend of McLaren Vale fruit: Seaview and bush vines from Blewitt Springs grown on limestone and ironstone. Violet perfume notes, deep dense mouthfilling fruit with an interesting savoury edge deriving from whole bunch fermentation, this is chunky but with a soft, silky finish. It should mellow even further in the bottle"

Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective January 2015
" Following my great Grenache round up last October, Giles Cooke MW dropped me a line to suggest I take a look at Thistledown Grenache....though both share the variety's characterisitic high alcohol, it's worn lightly thanks to a remarkable freshness and levity which allows the details/terroir of each Grenache to shine. Bright translucent cherry red with a floral, spicy nose and palate. Its crunchy sour red cherry/plum and earthier wild raspberry fruit is laced with sweet , lingering cinnamon and cedar spice, violets and almond -edged kirsch. With lovely animation and freshness from tip to toe there's no glycerol drag. A very good example of a medium bodied Greanche with fine detail."

She's Electric Grenache

Bottle images
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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2023 Vintage

95pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2023 She's Electric Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache was handpicked, whole-bunch pressed and fermented wild with 50% whole bunches, then matured for 10 months in older French oak. The palate is complex and complete, with a ductile framework of tannin and lashings of exotic spice, raspberry compote, licorice and black tea. This is a superb wine; it's rich and big but so balanced. There is energy here, edgy, vibrant energy.

95pts Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com
This grenache shows glorious riffs on tangerines, mandarin peel, kirsch, cranberries, cloves and mace with a succulent mouth-feel. Full, but feels more medium-bodied. Scintillating length with a briary, chewy edge. Wonderful drinking. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

95pts Aaron Brasher, The Real Review
In this gorgeously fragrant and dramatic grenache, they have absolutely captured the essence of old vine McLaren Vale grenache. Lovely vibrancy of colour in the glass. The aromas are alluring and complex. There's plenty of dried flowers, herbs, red and blue fruits and a sarsaparilla lift. The flavours are vivid and multi-faceted, all red fruits, spice and a creamy, textured mouth-feel. The tannins have a suppleness, yet real presence and the acidity delivers snap and crackle. Delicious gear.

94pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Seaview Grenache. 50% whole bunch. 2023 was a cool and late vintage.
Strawberry, raspberry, spice, thyme, mint, Earl Grey tea, a Campari-like top note. It’s medium-bodied, spicy with cherry and blood orange, fine white pepper dusted tannin, and some of that in the flavour department too, kind of bony, but juicy with strawberries too. Finish is powdery and long. Very good.
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

96pts The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Deep, bright purple-red colour; a gently scented bouquet of raspberry and blackcurrant pastilles, fringed with subtle spices. The wine is full bodied and there are ample fine-grained tannins that impart pleasing structure and contribute to its length. A very smart grenache that will age well but can also be enjoyed young.

96pts Decanter (David Sly)
Intensity from old-vine fruit meshes with a hum of acidity. Lifted aromas of musk and Turkish delight lead to flavours of wild strawberry, amplified by 50% whole bunches. Comforting for its plush mouthfeel and challenging for its sharp fruit tang, spiky minerality and spice.

95pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2022 She's Electric Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache features 50% whole bunches in the wild ferment, but it doesn't smell or feel more bunchy than the others, showing a sensitive approach to winemaking suited to individually fit the vineyard sites. Cool. On the nose, there is Valencia orange, raspberry coulis, cumin seeds, saffron, licorice and wet asphalt/ozone. This is gritty and savory in the mouth, more earthy than some of the others, but I do love that about it—it gives some savory yin to the sweet yang. The wine lingers in a lavender/ylang yang way, floral and petal-y. Lovely plus.

94pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
Dry-grown old bush vines. The norm. This time, in Seaview. Lower elevation. Reddish sandy loams littered with quartz and ironstone. This has greater concentration than the Vagabond grenache, yet without quite the detail or saveur. Damson plum and marasca cherry. Anise, thyme, menthol and lavender. A tad drying. A delicious wine of an expansive mid-palate, intensity of fruit and prodigious length, yet without the translucent pinosity and levity despite the alcohol and oomph that marks the very best examples of grenache from the Vale.

93pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Rich, ironstone/ferrous thing, raspberry, cherry, hazelnut and carob, lots of flesh and tannin, fruit is more on the down low, maybe a little lacking in the mid-palate, but the earthy/choc/ferrous things are the main driver here. Still, distinctive and very good.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

96pts Ned Goodwin, Halliday Wine Companion
The Vagabond is superlative, but this is extraordinary! The tannins, taut, febrile and wound across a spool of sage, thyme and blood orange zest. The drive of red cherry, rhubarb and Mediterranean herb is palate staining, without ever reneging on its sandy, vibrant and effortless hand. Incredibly complex. Scintillating length. Kerpow!

95pts - Wine Enthusiast

95pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2021 She's Electric Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache is like silken tofu in the mouth: it's is all about velvety texture, except here, the fruit is punctuated and supported by both very fine tannins and tense acid. This is a very smart wine, exciting, with notes of blood, raspberry pip, pink peppercorn and red licorice. It has a texturally creamy undertow, and the tannins are powdery and smashed into the fruit. Awesome.

95pts JamesSuckling.com
A complex nose of blueberry, raspberry, red cherry, violet, bark, moss and grated nutmeg. Medium- to full-bodied with silky, fruit-soaked tannins. Generous, but not overdone. Rather, it is fresh, bright and vibrant, with a bevy of succulent fruit and ground spice. Layered, with great balance. Vegan. Best after 2025. Screw cap.

95pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Dark raspberry, sage and thyme, spice and dried roses. Medium-bodied, ripe raspberry, silky and sooty tannin, perfume of bergamot and gentle twist of amaro, a sort of stony/earthy character, almond and fine grip on a long and fragrant red berry finish. Beautiful wine. And it needs more time.

95pts The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Medium to deep red colour with a good tint of purple. The bouquet shows iodine, balsamic herbs possibly signalling some whole-bunch activity. It's full-bodied and rich in the mouth, the generous flavour backed judiciously by abundant tannins, nice and ripe. Luscious stuff—but also has a little more structure than The Vagabond. (50% whole bunches).

93pts The Vintage Journal (Andrew Caillard MW)
Medium deep colour. Vibrant raspberry, musky plum aromas with chinotto notes. Supple and smooth with beautifully concentrated juicy raspberry, plum fruits, some cola notes, fine lacy textures and fresh linear acidity. Finishes crunchy and long. Delicious early drinking style.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

96pts Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
Has a bunchy, deeply complex nose with fruit sitting in the red and blueberry spectrum. Some frisky, ferment, meat and wild herb, too. Plenty of structure and tannin with good depth of summer-berry flavor. Sturdy. Drink over the next six years.

95pts Ned Goodwin, Halliday Wine Companion
Dry-grown fruit, low yields, old oak and 50% whole bunches. All good things! A limpid mid ruby. A nose suggestive of the sort of thirst-slaking succulence marking all wines here: rosehip, bracken, clove, kirsch, cranberry, bergamot, Turkish delight and iodine. Sweet of flavour, yet not an iota of jamminess. Measured. Savoury, spicy and honed by an attenuated limb of bony tannins. The extraction on a level that sets the bar. High.

93pts The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Medium ruby colour in the core with a hint of purple in the rim. Crushed strawberry and raspberry aromatics. Very bright and slippery palate, layered red berry fruit and dry herbs, hint of sea-spray as well. Wonderfully bright acidity keeping it light and tight but still powers into the finish with great drive and a good fuzz of tannins dries the finish nicely.

92pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

16.5pts Jancis Robinson
Just 675 bottles produced from old vines at the Seaview end of Chapel Hill Road. The fruit was hand-picked early in the morning of 1 March before 'swift transport to the winery' where 50% whole bunches were retained. A gentle foot-pressing helped establish the wild ferment. Aged in 300-litre used French oak hogsheads for six months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. Giles Cooke MW of importers Alliance Wine in Scotland is nursemaid of Thistledown, which have three Grenaches in this collection.
Bright mid garnet. Not much nose. But very lively palate with some raspberry notes and marked acidity (the whole-bunch effect?) and some sandy tannins. Easy to love, with real delicacy, but more youthful than the Bondar 2019. Lightly chewy at this point. Good with food?

Max Allen, Australian Financial Review
‘Grapes from a vineyard in the Seaview area of the vale, a site boasting both old bush vines and younger plantings of grenache. Super-fresh, rose-petally and gorgeously sweet-fruited, with a tangy Campari-like edginess (50 per cent whole bunches in the ferment) keeping it lively and bright.'

96 Points & Great Value Award
James Halliday Wine Companion
‘Dry-grown on stingy soils in Seaview, manifest as abstemious yields. hand-picked with 50% whole bunch, ditto whole berries as the rest; all whacked into a gently extractive wild ferment, foot trodden. The tannic glean a reflection of everything prior and an ample post-ferment maceration. This smells like Turkish delight, tomato, wild raspberry, bergamot, sour cherry and something rocky. The tannins, sand-etched and beautifully detailed. A pliant density. This set of wines is so on the pulse! I am astounded, smitten and swooning, all at once’.

96pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
'A super fragrant and floral rendition of this old-vine parcel from the Seaview district of the
vale. It has aromas of poached strawberries and raspberries with a very seductive, wholebunch (50%) influence. The palate has such impressive detail with a very pure and sleekly layered shape, mapped out with super fine, layered tannins. The red-berry, pomegranate and blood-orange flavors are deliciously fresh. Drink or hold. Screw cap.'

95pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'50% whole bunch. 675 bottles produced. She’s Electric. Are Friends Electric? Electric Avenue.
Together in Electric Dreams. Do I need The Mercy Seat? Perhaps. Light and frisky Grenache,
layered with spice over cranberry and fresh raspberry, rose and mint perfume. It’s energetic,
light and ‘Pinot-like’, a little rasp of tannin, energy and tension, and a cool long finish that’s just so appealing, you want to dip back in straight away. Bloody beautiful. Love this style of
Grenache.'

92pts
Huon Hooke, The Real Review
'Medium to full red colour with a good purple tint. Sweet raspberry, strawberry aromas, fresh
and clean. The wine is light to medium-bodied and soft, gentle of texture, length isrespectable and drinkability is high. A charming wine. Remarkable for its age, but how will it develop with time? (50% whole-bunches; 675 bottles produced).'

92 Points - Wine Advocate
‘The 2019 She's Electric Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache comes from the Seaview subregion of McLaren Vale. Vinified with 50% whole clusters and aged only six months in used hogsheads, it's only delicately herbal, the stemminess largely absorbed by masses of bright cherry fruit. Despite the fruity intensity, it's only medium-bodied—it seems almost airy on the palate, supported by gossamer tannins and a lattice of balanced acidity. More approachable than the 2018 was at this stage, it may not be as long-lived, but it should provide at least equal pleasure.’

91pts Wines & Spirits Magazine
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

96pts - Great Value
James Halliday
"From a single, old dry-grown bushvine vineyard on the Seaview end of Chapel Hill Road. Hand-picked, 50% whole bunch, 50% whole berry, foot-trodden and hand-plunged, 6 days on skins post ferment. As pure as the driven snow multi-cherry and raspberry flavours, the mouthfeel supple, yet allows a span of flavours and textures to make fleeting appearances across the palate."

93+ pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"She’s electric. She’s in a family full of eccentrics.” Well that takes me back to when I was living in England at the height of Britpop. Anyway, back then Australian Grenache was very much second fiddle to Shiraz, but no longer. Definitely maybe.

Spice, red fruits, dried herb and floral perfume. Medium-bodied, certainly ‘warm climate Pinot Noir’ style here, delicate with a subtle earthiness, playful kitten’s tongue tannin, balanced acidity, and a dry and firm finish of excellent length. Its best days are ahead of it."

93pts
James Suckling
"Attractive wild raspberries, delivered in very bright, attractive, fresh mode. The pastry-like tannins deliver a crunchy, vibrant style here. Drink now. Screw cap."

91pts
The Wine Advocate
"Thistledown's 2018 She's Electric Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache comes from the Seaview subregion of McLaren Vale and was vinified with 50% whole clusters. Medium to full-bodied, it's taut and tart, with raspberry and cranberry fruit flavors and some dusty tannins on the finish. Give it another year or two in the cellar."
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

Gold Medal
McLaren Vale Wine Show, 2018

Gold Medal
James Halliday Grenache Challenge, 2018

95pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com
"Dry grown bushvines, wild-fermented with 50% whole berries and 50% whole bunches, 6 days in postferment maceration, matured in French hogsheads (25% new). A fragrant and pure bouquet and palate, both sending the same message, are the starting point for this beautifully detailed wine. It's actually quite firm on the palate, but it comes from the fruit not tannins, so it can be missed. The length and finish reveal just how complex the wine is."

Sands of Time Grenache

Bottle images
Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2023 Vintage

97 points – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2023 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache leads with a floral, fragrant bouquet of Boscobel rose, crushed green (and salted) pistachios, licorice, clove, star anise and cracked fennel seeds. The wine is structurally fine and ductile; the tannins present us with an attractive framework of support and texture. It is gently chewy, layered with tobacco, iron and a hint of boudin noir, or black pudding. (I was recently pulled away from my Northern English roots while in France. We had boudin noir, and it was significantly silkier, fattier, softer and more lustrous than the English version; and to my palate at least, it was far more aligned with wine and nuance.) Suffice to say, this is a super wine, fragrant and detailed, long and complex. Yes!

95 points – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
There are very few wines that I look forward to more than the top duo of grenache from Thistledown, be it on Australian or international shores. This, from an octogenarian spread of vines, higher up on meager sands flecked with ironstone, peering toward the vast Pacific horizon. The final vintage of a La Nina troika, splaying red-fruit allusions, dried thyme, rose petal, pomegranate and lilac, with a mandala of gritty nigh-on nebbiolo-esque tannins, directing and driving long. The tannins are just a little emaciated, to be churlish. Later-ripening varieties, such as grenache, had their challenges in this vintage, yet this gorgeous rendition virtually transcends them.

94 points – The Wine Front (Mike Bennie)
Concentrated but quite fine in the palate, lacy and pure-feeling with a mix of sweet spice, headier almost curry spice, curiously, blood orange, and lots of cherry between just-ripe and maraschino. Slender swish of fine boned tannins, minerally and crushed rock qualities. Great extension of flavour too. Massive charm here.
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

96+ points – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2022 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache was one of the loveliest Grenaches that I tasted from McLaren Vale last year, and it again presents with a hedonistic display of sweet ripe fruit, supple blood orange inflections on the tannic structure and layer upon layer of flavor and texture. All of the components are enmeshed and present as one. The tannins are again my favorite part of this picture: sandy (Blewitt Springs), pluming, uber-fine and absolutely ever present. This is a big wine but so detailed.

96 points – Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
96 points – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
This is attractive. Lifted and fresh and laden with sweet, succulent red fruits, tangerine zest, musk, kirsch, rosewater and lilac. Blewitt over the Charming Man from Clarendon. This is brighter, floral, earthier and sweeter; the Clarendon is tighter, more textural, airier and considerably more savoury. Clarendon wins, but it is not always the case. This is still a brilliant, flamboyant grenache, if not a little sweet across the diaphanous tannic seams. It is a treat to witness the rise of grenache, the flag bearer of the most exciting chapter of Australian wine to date.

96 points – Decanter (David Sly)
Sourced from Sue Trott’s coveted home block, this shows a generous dark spectrum of fruit and a sharp acid bite that drives the mid-palate, with a fine minerality and texture that sculpts a very elegant finish. Boasts a stately, unforced complexity.

96 points Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Blewitt Springs. A single vineyard with vines 75 years old.
Exotic, so much perfume of flowering herbs, aniseed, chocolate, dark raspberry and cherry. Muscular style, purple and ripe red fruits, lots of spice, layers of graphite tannin grip, all blue and spicy on a very long and firm finish. Quite something.

95 points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Deep-ish red-purple colour; spicy red fruits/raspberry aromas, dried blood/ferrous nuances too, the palate very savoury with ample tannins and good structure. A fruit-driven wine that will no doubt develop tertiary complexities with a little time. Really tasty grenache that shows 2022 is not to be overshadowed by '21.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

97+ points Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Hooley dooley. Good. This 2021 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache shows Grenache in its best light; when the fruit is buoyant, succulent, airy and spicy, but also when it has been compressed and screwed down into place by gossamer fine tannins. This is tight yet expansive, classy yet exciting: a wine of amalgums and complexity. So what does it taste like? First, raspberry leaf tea, red licorice, berry coulis... then blood, ferrous and iodine seep into the edges and drag with them licorice, pink peppercorn, hung deli meat and a whiff of blackberry pie. It finishes slender, with graphite and quartz. The cooler year has exposed a fine framework of ripe, whippy tannins, which hold the fruit in place—ever-present yet invisible. What a wine.

97 points - Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
'Raspberry, lilac and rosehip behind. The tannins, a saline scape of bridling force that stretch from the attack to the long, chalky finish. Delicious. Concrete ferment, layered bunches and destemmed material to promote perfume and a mezcal whiff of the best parts beyond a border of control. Saliva-sapping energy.'

TOP TEN GRENACHE (70 Great Wines) - Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)

96 points Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal
Medium deep crimson. Lovely dark plum, raspberry aromas with graphite, aniseed notes. Inky deep dark plum, raspberry, strawberry pastille flavours, fine loose knit vigorous/chalky textures, pinot-noir-esque viscosity and superb quartz-like acidity. Finishes crunchy/ minerally with pure red and dark fruits. Superb density, vigour and presence.

95 points Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Raspberry, rosehip, a gently saline and earthy character. Deep flavour, firm slightly sandy feel to tannin, though tight, plenty of tannin and crunch to a long finish. So good.

95 points Aaron Brasher, The Real Review
Really bright and vibrant in the glass. Evocative aromas of dried flowers, raspberry, cherry, sweet spice and cedar. Mid-weight on the palate, there’s a lovely fleshy juiciness, plenty of red and blue fruits and chalky, textured and mouthfilling tannins. Plenty of complexity and layers of flavour here.
TOP RANK
Thistledown is a champion of McLaren Vale grenache and this wine is right up there in the upper echelons of quality. Really bright and vibrant in the glass. Evocative aromas of dried flowers, raspberry, cherry, sweet spice and cedar. Mid-weight on the palate, there’s a lovely fleshy juiciness, plenty of red and blue fruits and chalky, textured and mouth filling tannins. Plenty of complexity and layers of flavour here.

95 points JamesSuckling.com
A vintage that will go down in history as among the very best of all time, although it was a bit easy for grenache, according to maker Giles Cooke MW. There wasn't enough of a struggle, given that grenache likes a nudge of adversity. Scintillating complexity here, all the same. Scents of tea tree, black olive, dried scrub, bergamot, licorice root, kirsch and thyme. An edgy wine. Angular shape-shifting tannins, not yet resolved. Mid-weighted of feel. Shins and elbows, trying to sort itself out amidst the pangs of youth. It will. It just needs time. Best after 2025.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

TROPHY WINNER
Global Fine Wine Challenge 2021

97pts & EDITOR'S CHOICE - Wine Enthusiast

96 points - Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
Sourced from the old, sandy Blewitt Springs Home Block of Sue Trott. Fermented wild, with attenuated maceration in eggs and the inclusion of 30% whole bunches imparting turmeric, sandalwood, cardamon scents and finely wrought, granular tannins akin to nebbiolo. Real pinosity and sap to this. Succulent notes of kirsch, fecund strawberry and anise. A parry of tension and thrust of gentle sweetness. Remarkable freshness. A wine that places domestic grenache among the world's best.

96 points - JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
A very warm vintage with paucity of moisture in the soils. Yet grenache likes adversity, eking its survival from the deep root systems of old vines, like those on show here. Vinous and forceful. Beef-bouillon, lilac, tamarind, rose-water and pungent mineral succulence, like sucking on a river stone. A vibrato of tension, drawing excellent length across a bow of sandy, tetchy tannins.

96 points - The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Deep, bright purple/red colour. Aromas of spices, graphite and ironstone, plus chocolate. Medium to full-bodied, with sumptuous flavour. Delicious wine. (Trophy, New World Wine Challenge 2021)

95+ points Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
This 2020 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache is powdery and supple. It’s chalky and plumes in the mouth, with notes of savory iodine and salted berries. Jasmine tea, kelp, pink grapefruit and blood orange… there’s a lot going on here. Sensational.

95+ points - The WineFront (Gary Walsh)
'Very old vines in Blewitt Springs.
Cherry, sage and dried roses, spicy biscuits, with a subtle earthy character. Ripe, intense red fruit and cherry flavour, sprinkled with dried herbs, almost gravelly tannin, fresh acidity, a fair amount of mouth-perfume, and a spicy poached strawberry finish of excellent length. Outstanding.'

94pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)

17.5/20 points JancisRobinson.com
The nose shows a big step up from their Vagabond label, showing more depth and texture as well as longer persistence and fragrance. Super-fine tannins with tension from acid and a properly dry finish despite the generous primary character. (RH)
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

96pts Tyson Stelzer, Wine Business Magazine (WBM)
Beautiful lift and exoticism of whole bunch influence lends an air of rose hip and spice to a core of pretty red cherry and red berry fruits. The powder-fine tannins and poised acidity of Blewitt Springs make for a delightful palate that delivers texture, tension and endurance in equal measure. Crafted and classy.

95pts Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Deep-ish red-purple colour; spicy red fruits/raspberry aromas, dried blood/ferrous nuances too, the palate very savoury with ample tannins and good structure. A fruit-driven wine that will no doubt develop tertiary complexities with a little time. Really tasty grenache that shows 2022 is not to be overshadowed by '21.

95pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Blood abounds in this 2019 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache. Pink peppercorns, pliable exotic spice, star anise and clove bud, bone marrow and blood. The wine morphs and changes through the course of its journey across the palate and takes us on a journey through deli meats, forest berries, Chinese five spice and savory. But so fine.

17pts Jancis Robinson
Just 960 bottles produced from Sue Trott's Home Block in Blewitt Springs. After five years of buying and blending the fruit, the Thistledown team finally bottled it separately for the first time in 2017. They layer whole-bunch and destemmed fruit alternately in concrete and then age the result in both concrete and oak for 10 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
One of the only two wines in this dozen not to be screwcapped but stopped with a cork and black wax instead. (Thistledown's Charming Man is the other.) A nose that is genuinely complex with sweetness, spice, white pepper and herbs. This wine seems to recall the southern Rhône and has really impressive structure. I like those tannins that recall polished leather. And crisp fruit that is still quite embryonic. Serious wine with a layered, lingering finish. Although I'd have preferred it to be screwcapped!

95+pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'From 76 year old vines planted in Blewitt Springs, which is perhaps the epicentre for quality
Grenache in this country. Bit of a loaded word of late though, is epicentre. A total of 930
bottles produced. Mine is 923. I was hoping for either 930, 007 or 001. Oh well. Medium-bodied, perfume and ripe raspberry, some biscuit spices and wholesome earthiness, almost like wet clay. It’s carrying some puppy fat as a very young wine, succulence of raspberry, but there’s bass and depth, kitten’s tongue tannin, a smattering of dried herb
(thyme and the like) and dried flowers on a long and gently, but insistently, tannic finish. Fantastic, and it feels like it will develop beautifully.'

95pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
'This is a wine that resonates in the way that old-vine wines sometimes do. Transcending
the weight of fruit and the various aromas and flavors, it delivers x-factor presence. The bright
red berries are tinged with wild herbs. Stone and forest-wood notes, too. The wine has a
succulent, bright entry and then expands in all directions to really claim the palate in full,
showing fine yet sinewy tannins, all juicy, defined and persistent. Fresh red-berry flavor holds
long. Just needs a year or two to bed it all in. Drink or hold.'

95pts Gourmet Traveller Wine
'Grown by Sue Trott; wild fermented in concrete eggs using 30% whole bunches, this is a fuller-bodied, well-structured grenache. Dusty earth, pepper, dry-bark aromas; a good solid grip and a long finish. It should age superbly.'

93pts Wines & Spirits Magazine

2020 in 24 Vinous Highlights
95pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)
'This single vineyard Grenache from Sue Trott’s Blewitt Springs’ vineyard (pictured) stood out for its complexity, tension and lift, with perfumed rose water and spicy star anise to its animated red cherry, raspberry water melon and lick of blueberry fruit. With a dynamic interplay between juice and sandy, pithy tannins, the finish is long, fine, focused and thoroughly engaging.'
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

96pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
2018 was the first of the drought vintages. The palate of this 2018 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache is totally alive and succulent—four years in bottle have accentuated all things. This is bloody, saturated and concentrated, with wild raspberry, tobacco leaf and fennel flower, and the tannins are powdery fine and supple. There are also notes of fed apple skins, strawberry, raspberry leaf tea. Just starting to power up.

Max Allen, Australian Financial Review
‘Grapes from a 75-year-old grenache vineyard in the sandy soils of the Blewitt Springs area. There’s a lovely, almost gamey, undergrowth twang to this wine, a deliciously savoury quality, with fine but sturdy Italianate tannins. Like all the grenaches here, it will cellar well for a few years.'

Winner
James Halliday Grenache Challenge 2019

Top Gold
James Halliday Grenache Challenge 2019

Gold Medal
McLaren Vale Wine Show 2019

97 pts
James Halliday Grenache Challenge 2019

96pts
Sarah Ahmed, Decanter
"From Sue Trott’s 75-year-old Blewitt Springs’ Home Block at 250m on deep sand. Terrific intensity and purity of fresh raspberry, blood orange and crunchier pomegranate, with subtle dried rose, sandalwood and five spice. Energetic, long, focused and mineral, with fine, pithy tannins. Whole bunch and whole berry layers were fermented in concrete. Aged 10 months in 500l French oak (20% new) and concrete egg; bottled unfined and unfiltered. 960 bottles."

95+ pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"Blewitt Springs here. Like sands through the hourglass… Flat out beautiful Grenache. Raspberry, dried herb, rose oil, spice. Pure, glowing red fruits and juicy raspberry in particular, cool acidity, dusted with fine graphite tannin, pulls more savoury to close, and runs very long. Fabulous."

95pts
James Halliday

94pts
Huon Hooke, www.therealreview.com.au
"Medium to deep red/purple colour with a savoury, dusty, nutty bouquet, which is less about primary sweet fruit than many Grenaches. the palate though, is lush and deep in fruit, although there is a nice balance between sweet primary fruit and savoury, drier flavours. It has elegance, richness and refined texture. A very smart Grenache indeed. Very long on the finish. It's a lovely drink now and should reward keeping too."

94pts
James Suckling
"A vibrant, complex and powerful grenache that is packed with aromas of brambly raspberries and spiced pastry. The palate has density and depth with terrific, red-fruit clarity. Drink or hold."

93 points
The Wine Advocate
"From 75-year-old vines in Blewitt Springs planted on sandy soils, the 2018 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache features boisterous notes of blueberries and cherries. Medium to full-bodied, it's spicy and peppery, with complex herbal notes that give an extra layer of complexity to this silky beauty."
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

Top 100 Australian Wines 2019
Matthew Jukes
"It is a myth that serious Grenache needs somehow to become more and more macho, darker and oakier in order to justify its price. Headline grabbing and 100-point-score-munching Châteauneuf- du-Pape always seems to be so impenetrable it is impossible to drink. A growing band of winemakers and commentators under- stand that colour is irrelevant while assessing Grenache. Pale, ethereal beings can be surprisingly forceful and opinionated on the palate. Equally, new oak is not a pre-requisite for a great wine, quite the opposite. This rant brings me to Sands of Time, a remarkable wine from Sue Trott’s Home Block vineyard in Blewitt Springs. It is hand-picked and vinified in concrete with loads of whole bunches layered in among the destemmed fruit to make a large, juicy, Grenache cake (its tastes as good as this image, too)! It then sees subtle oak for only ten months before being bottled. This is a transcendental Grenache which is made up of a vast collection of nuances, concepts, beliefs and suggestions bound together with a few decent dreams, random thoughts, a hunch or two and some propulsive ambition and it is delivered in liquid form for us all to admire.”

Silver Medal
McLaren Vale Wine Show, 2018

Silver Medal
James Halliday Grenache Challenge, 2018

96pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
"From 80 yo vines, matured in French puncheons (25% new). A high class wine begging to be given as long as possible before a blind tasting with Chateau Rayas et al. It has the power and depth to its red and blue fruits, tamed by oak, set to develop another leg or two over the next 20 years. Classy tannins. Great package.’ Diam. 14.5% alc. To: 2037"

96pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"Giles Cooke MW and I held hands and sang “If I Could Turn Back Time” while we tasted this in the privacy of my home. Sadly I couldn’t find my torn black tights to complete the scene. Anyway, this comes from Sue Trott’s Home Block in the Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale with a total production of 100 dozen. There’s a touch of lift there to heighten the aromatics. Deep, throaty, dark red fruits, scrub herb perfume, spice and exotic things. Medium-bodied, fruity flavor of raspberry and cranberry, but dry and controlled too, plenty of grip, a bit of luxury, and a great finish. Spicy and crunchy to close. Saline. Feels long term to me. I’ve written 95 or 96 points, and either way, that’s a pretty hefty score."

94pts
Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

93pts
Huon Hooke, www.therealreview.com.au
''Youthful purple/red colour, medium depth, with a lovely fragrant aroma of raspberry pastille varietal fruit, bright and fresh, clean and pristinely fruit-driven. It's intense in the mouth, full-bodied and finishes with gently balanced tannin firmness. Delicious ripe-fruit sweetness. Superb wine.'

This Charming Man Grenache

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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2023 Vintage

96pts – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2023 The Charming Man Single Vineyard Grenache is altogether moodier and darker than the Sands of Time tasted alongside it, but that is not making a comment on "weight" or "density" but rather on character. Here, we have blackberry and mulberry, raspberry pip and star anise, layers of coal dust, dirt and graphite, clove and even nutmeg/cinnamon. The tannins are über fine, chalky, grippy and gently chewy. It is a wonderful thing to experience the "feel" of the wine as much as the taste. Interacting with red wine in this way—and white as well—makes for thrilling drinking. It curls and winds its way through the long finish. It's super. A pleasure.

96pts – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
It is inescapable, the need to compare the iconic grenache cuvees from this producer. Each superlative, vying for top position with the other each year, the seeding oscillating with vintage vagaries and mood. This is a richer geological mold, more ferrous of make up, resulting in a more ferruginous wine. Still, it’s mid-weighted of feel, due to the inherent freshness and bulletproof tannin profile, rocky and sublime. Thyme, dried lavender, kirsch, cardamon, tamarind and rose water. Exotic and resinous. Not the balletic pirouette of fragrance-meets-freshness of its sibling, necessarily. Yet, there’s more grunt, a little more extract, longer-limbed tannins and so much to believe in. Put this away for six-years and see what happens. I hedge towards magic, once the force-field of tannins settles.

94pts – The Wine Front (Mike Bennie)
Good perfume here. Rose hip tea, ginger biscuits, wild raspberry, a swathe of wild, green herbs and a touch of alpine herbal lift. The palate is firm and fine, grippy, granular, tightly wound and somewhat crisp. More cherry to taste, slightly amaro-like with a crunch of blood orange, more of the ginger biscuit thing going on with excellent persistence of quality tannin and some sweet spice meshed to alpine herb lift. Very fine boned, shimmers across the palate. Refreshing almost. Should mature well too.
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

97 pts – Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
97 pts – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
The qualitative apogee when it comes to grenache, rivalled by few and equalled only by Yangarra. Even better than the superb 2021. Sourced from the highest, coolest site in the Vale, the venerable Smart vineyard. Ironstone imparts a ferrous bite to pithy sour cherry, cranberry, campfire, pomegranate, tamarind and sandalwood notes with a grind of white pepper across a lattice of pin bone tannins, curtailing sweetness while promoting stunning length. This is excellent. Superb! Transparent and brimming with a sense of pinoté, like a mini Rayas. A great wine of the present as much as the future. Among Australia's very greatest reds. I don't score above 97, but this could be worth a point higher.

97pts – Decanter (David Sly)
One of several small-batch Grenaches sourced from the Smart vineyard, this nimble-bodied wine changes gears dramatically, from light-fruited seduction to a dark-fruited wrestle. Its stern acid spine keeps tingling throughout, along with fine tea tannins.

96pts – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2022 The Charming Man Single Vineyard Grenache hails from a single vineyard in Clarendon, named after Bernard Smart. I haven't met a producer in McLaren Vale yet that doesn't light up at the mention of this man and his vineyard. So, to the wine. It offers blood orange, rosemary, a hint of sage, fresh blood, layers of raspberry pip, a hint of star anise and loads of ground exotic five spice. This is supple and flowing in the mouth, with the 20% whole-bunch inclusion a suggestion of complexity and not an overwhelming quality. All of the components are in balance and harmony: it has no more fruit than tannin, no more flavor than freshness, no more complexity than vivacity.

95+pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Clarendon. Some vines up to 100 years of age.
Black and red fruits, baking spice, floral too, with some thyme and cocoa. It’s lively, quite stony in feel, a lovely crunch and freshness to acidity, quite concentrated but still light on its feet. The finish pulls more to spiced strawberry and raspberry, with flowering herb perfume on a very long finish. Delightful.

95pts Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Medium-deep red-purple colour, with sarsaparilla and spice aromas of clove, pepper and nutmeg, the palate medium-bodied and smooth textured with ample fine-grained tannins and serious structure. Taut and coiled. A grenache of high potential.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

97pts Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com
I have tasted this producer's wines for a time now and adore the grenaches. Often my preference is for the Sands of Time cuvée but in 2021, a vintage of such effortless quality, This Charming Man ascends. Bitter red-fruit, orange-pastille, tea-tree, dried-thyme, bracken and sandalwood riffs are beautifully compressed by a phalanx of brushwood tannins. Mid-weighted Nebbiolo vibes. Very fine. Extremely long. An exquisite grenache.

96+pts Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
This wine is named after Bernard Smart, who owns the Smart vineyard in Clarendon. This 2021 The Charming Man Single Vineyard Grenache is more savory and fine-boned than the Sands of Time; there’s rose petal fruit and raspberry pip and iodine, kelp and graphite. There’s a bloody character here. I love it. It's savory, supple, whippy, pliable, mouth perfume.

96pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Floral and perfumed, spicy biscuit, red fruit. Very fine and fresh, a cranberry flavour and dryness to acidity, distinct ‘mineral’ feel, firm emery tannin, boysenberry and red fruits, and a little pepper on a long bright finish. Lovely. So lacy and delicate. It’s somewhere between 95 and 96 points, but as I’m keen on a Grenache that’s light and frisky, I’ve gone towards the latter score.

95 points - Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
Pickled cherry, ume, lavender, rhubarb and poached plum. A waft of menthol, too, but nothing intrusive. The Smart vineyard is high and cool. Characterful, while pushing the svelte tannic line of grit and paradoxical elegance that mark the region's finest wines. All, let's face it, grenache. This is stellar. It grows in stature as it unravels and beams clove, white pepper and violet across a brilliant finish of real pizazz.

95 points – The Vintage Journal (Andrew Caillard MW)
Medium deep crimson. Fresh and intense strawberry, red cherry, red liquorice aromas. Generously flavoured wine with ample strawberry, red cherry, redcurrant fruits, brambly/ grippy textures, some earthy notes and fresh, long, high-pitched acidity. Very individual but very good energy and impact. Probably needs some more time to settle down, but the elements are all in balance.

95 points – The Real Review (Aaron Brasher)
Youthful and bright red in the glass. Complex aromas of dark cherry, blueberry, menthol, dried herbs, spice and limestone. Bright, textured, layered and mouthfilling. Complex and driven by fleshy cherry, raspberry, sweet spice and zingy acidity. Lovely weight and presence, long and very satisfying.

94pts JamesSuckling.com
Aromas of crushed red and black cherries, baked strawberries, rosemary stems and violets. Full-bodied with silky tannins. Perfumed and vibrant on the palate, with a solid core of red fruit. Pretty, but sturdy, with very nice depth and length. Vegan. Best after 2025.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

TOP 100 AUSTRALIAN WINES OF THE YEAR
97pts JamesSuckling.com (Nick Stock)
This is grenache with real purity and focus, offering fragrant raspberry, wild-herb and sappy nuances on the nose. The palate strikes elegance with concentration and delivers such pure raspberry and red-plum flavors. The acidity chimes in neatly. This is just so polished. Drink over the next seven years.

95 points & CELLAR SELECTION - Wine Enthusiast

95 points - Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
When siphoning amidst the pantheon of the country's greatest grenache it is important to take time to let wines unwind. And so it is that I write on the 2nd day after opening. Was clunky. Now, a swan! From the cherished Smart Family vineyard. Cherry amaro, bergamot, thyme, lavender and a whiff of mint, rather than (mercifully) eucalyptus. Some malty oak could be shifted. Sweeter than the ‘19 with a skein of freshness and bunchy (20%) tannins tucking in the exuberance. Expansive. The broader of the siblings. Long and juicy. Delicious.

95 points - The WineFront (Gary Walsh)
'From the Smart vineyard, up in Clarendon. Interesting to note how much lighter the colour is than the Sands of Time Blewitt Springs Grenache.
Raspberry, dried flowers and mint, pretty and spicy. Medium-bodied, juicy red fruits with spicy biscuit flavour, fine grained tightly knit tannin, strawberry and sweet dried herbs on a long fine fresh finish. Stylish. Needs a few years, but so fine and good.'

95pts The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Light to medium ruby-red colour. Raspberries and their leaves, along with dry terracotta aromas. The palate has a medium-weight with a narrow flavour line that is laser-like in its focus. The tannins and acidity drive it to the finish. Time will allow further complexities and textures to build, but still a great drink right now.

94pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

17.5 pts Jancis Robinson MW
Cork-stoppered. Vines grown in Clarendon by Bernard Smart, dubbed a charming man and mentioned in relation to the Yangarra, High Sands Grenache 2017. Thistledown describe the vineyard as a 'remarkable site that has vines of 100 years old. The entire site, planted high in the picturesque Clarendon sub-region, is dry-grown bush vines and has been farmed by the same family for three generations. This wine is sourced from one particular block where the canopy is raised slightly higher above the ground, allowing for better air circulation and increased radiated sunlight.' Hand-picked on 15 March and transported to the winery where 20% was retained as whole bunches to be placed on the base of a two-tonne open fermenter. Fermented with ambient yeast and gently hand-plunged twice a day during active fermentation. Pressed off to 300-litre hogsheads, of which 25% were new French. Just 960 bottles produced.
Mid garnet. Toasty, broad, biscuity nose. Mmm. Lovely layered, sweet, pure, gorgeous instructive example of unadorned Grenache with a fine finish. Much more evolved than the S C Pannell 2017 even though it's a year younger. Rose petals and vibrant, rather beautiful finish. This charming wine ... but will it last that long?

Max Allen, Australian Financial Review
‘Grapes from a 75-year-old grenache vineyard in the sandy soils of the Blewitt Springs area. There’s a lovely, almost gamey, undergrowth twang to this wine, a deliciously savoury quality, with fine but sturdy Italianate tannins. Like all the grenaches here, it will cellar well for a few years.'

97pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
'This is sourced from the Smart Vineyard, up on the ridge at Clarendon and has a very singular,
powerful expression of raspberry and red-plum aromas, as well as some bracken and forestwood notes. Very pure. The palate has a succulent feel with acidity that enlivens the rich,
powerful, red-berry flavors.'

95pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'From the Smart vineyard up in Clarendon. How many Grenache based wines can these
lunatics at Thistledown make in any given year? Anyway, Johnny Marr produced one of the
best, and most enduring guitar parts ever written for the song of the same name, made all the
better because it was played on a Fender Telecaster. How’s the purity? Crisp and clear red fruit, mint and liquorice root perfume, a dusting of exotic spice. It’s light and fresh, rings like a well struck triangle, fine emery board tannin, cool and
calm, vanilla and juicy raspberry on a long and precise finish. Fine wine, no doubt.’

93pts Gourmet Traveller Wine
'Fermented with 20% whole bunches, the wine is elegantly stated and of light to medium weight, but very good intensity. Attractively spicy aromas and flavours, and already drinking well despite its youth.'

91 Points - Wine Advocate
‘Pale ruby in hue, Thistledown's 2019 The Charming Man Single Vineyard Grenache comes across as a bit disjointed, with pristine, tart cranberry fruit slightly at odds with scents of sawn cedar and crushed herbs. Medium-bodied, tart and crisp, this Clarendon-sourced wine seems likely to be reasonably long-lived by the standards of New World Grenache, with up to a decade of aging potential, although I find some of Thistledown's other Grenache bottlings to be more approachable.’
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

Gold Medal
McLaren Vale Wine Show 2019

95pts
Sarah Ahmed, Decanter
"From a 71-year-old block of Smart Vineyard, Clarendon, at 260m on clay loam, quartz and ironstone. Beautiful saturation of slinky, fleshy red cherry fruit, with almond-edged cherry close to the stone, dried herbs and roses (Turkish Delight) and intriguing crushed oyster shell and graphite nuances. Undertones of sandalwood and earth lend savouriness. Long, very lithe, with silky tannins. Aged 12 months in French oak hogsheads (25% new)."

95pts
Huon Hooke, www.therealreview.com.au
"Medium to deep red/purple colour, the bouquet subtle and reserved but evoking raspberry and Turkish Delight. The wine is deliciously fruit-sweet and perfumed throughout the palate, medium to full in body and soft in tannins, with refinement, and a lovely lightness of touch. A tad more structure than the Sands of Time, perhaps. The flavour lingers superbly on the back-palate and finish, and it really brings a smile to the face"

94pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"Grown on a hillside, not desolate. Well, Thistledown made a man of me trying to open this bugger. I had to borrow my son’s Swiss Army Knife to cut through the stupid thick wax… Anyway, from the Smart vineyard in Clarendon. Raspberry, and then some more raspberry, rosy and musky perfume, baking spices. Medium-bodied, fleshy, ripe but slightly sticky tannin, ample fruit and perfume, a long finish with dried herb and raspberry in the aftertaste. More to come here."

94pts
JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
A composition of fine-boned, gritty tannins and maritime freshness serves to corral the sweetness of fruit into a sense of mid-weighted tension. Violet, licorice and cherry ripe. Nebbioloesque sandalwood, caramelized-orange and campfire notes, too. A solid, energetic finish.

92pts
The Wine Advocate
Thistledown's 2018 The Charming Man Single Vineyard Grenache hails from Clarendon. From a vineyard planted in 1971 on iron stone and clay, this medium to full-bodied wine offers cedary notes (it was aged in one-fifth new oak) layered over black cherries. It's taut and firm, framed by fine-grained tannins, so give it until 2021, then drink it over the next 10 years.

Jane MacQuitty, The Times
Whatever you do splash out on the dreamy, floral, lavender, rosemary and strawberry-stashed 2018 This Charming Man Grenache, made from ancient McLaren Vale vines by Thistledown.

Fool on the Hill Grenache

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Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

96 points – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The fruit for this 2022 Fool on the Hill Grenache hails from the Mattschoss vineyard in Eden Valley, and the wine veritably explodes with crushed rocks, black earth, clove and dried star anise, raspberry leaf tea and dehydrated orange peel. This comes alive in the mouth, where it is savory but spicy, totally New World and a little bit febrile, all the while pushing this forge of raspberry-inflected flavor across the tongue and through to the finish. This is a ripping wine, left of center, super, precise, a bit gritty, awesome. it is really contained in its shape.

93 points – Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
93 points – jamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
Seldom does grenache from Barossa or Eden Valley equal that of the Vale. This is good, but darker of exposure than the luminosity of expressions closer to the coast. But it is still grenache, the finest red cultivar for the majority of Australian conditions by a country mile. Transcendental moments are inevitable, thus. Brambly forest berries, mint, amaro and anise. A swathe of eucalyptus dries the tannins, but there is plenty of push to the extract and underlying freshness for poise and drinkability.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

95 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
From the Mattschoss Vineyard, which sits 550 metres above the level of the sea.
Dark cherry, plenty of sweet spice, a little earthy/stony, liquorice, dried flowers and sage. It’s firm, plenty of ripe cherry and raspberry flavour, bounteous gravelly tannin, dry but plump, with a very long savoury finish. Terrific.

95 points – JamesSuckling.com
Aromas of white pepper, rose hip, strawberry, baked cherry, rosemary and thyme. Full-bodied with fine, chewy tannins. Bright and vibrant on the palate, with juicy fruit and spice. Succulent. Clear, transparent and fresh. Lovely tension here, which will unravel with time. A pleasure. Best after 2025.

93 points - The Vintage Journal (Andrew Caillard MW)
Medium deep crimson. Intense dark cherry, dark plum aromas with graphite, petrichor notes. Well concentrated dark cherry, plum fruits, chewy textures, attractive mid-palate viscosity, persistent crunchy acidity. Sturdy and slurpy with very good density and backbone

Gorgeous Shiraz

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Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

90 points – Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
90 points – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
All Riverland fruit, with a heritage property supplying the shiraz. A dollop of old-vine zibibbo and a smidgeon of fiano were co-fermented, serving lift and perfume. This has some throaty warmth to it, yet the extraction regime was clearly whole-berry gentle, so easy is this to drink. Mindless, in the very best way. It avoids the bane of excessive reduction, ploughing cinnamon stick, clove, cardamon, bergamot and bing cherry lines across a drift of gentle tannic grip. Chilling this is imperative.

90 points – The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Bright ruby with a vibrant purple tone into the rim. Ultra fragrant with bright red and blue fruit, violets and liquorice all leaping from the glass. Slippery and gliding as it flows across the tongue with ample plump purple fruits and subtle dark spices along the journey. Tannins are silky and just caress the edges to a good length finish. A delicious drink now style.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

92 points – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2021 Gorgeous Shiraz is bright and light, with aromas of deli meat and star anise, raspberry and pink peppercorns, red apple skins and black humbugs. How utterly gorgeous. Aptly named.

92 points - The Real Review (Aaron Brasher)
'Youthful and bright in the glass. Lifted aromas of pot-pourri, blueberry, bay leaf, Campari, cola, menthol and spice. Lively and juicy on the palate, blueberry, satsuma plum, sarsaparilla and a woodsy, cedary line. The tannins are soft and round and the acidity gives firmness and shapes the wine nicely.'

90 points – Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
A pulpy and reductively handled, fuller than mid-weighted, easygoing, warm-climate Australian shiraz, with a swirl of whole-berry bubblegum, purple and blue fruits, licorice straps, nori and smoked meat riffs, with plenty of sap. The vibrant florals impart life, rather than any bright acidity per se. I’d drink this on the cooler side.

The Cunning Plan Shiraz

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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

BEST SHIRAZ McLaren Vale Wine Show

BEST YOUNG SHIRAZ McLaren Vale Wine Show

95pts Halliday Wine Companion (Marcus Ellis)
Whole berry, four-day soak, wild ferment, 10% new French oak, the remainder seasoned French. In value terms, this is truly exceptional. It’s a wine of poise and engaging vibrancy that’s also rippling with flavour. Raspberry, blackberry, ripe redcurrant and red plum are all suggested but never so defined that they simplify. A dusting of warm spices and a lilt of red florals deepen the interest as well as the ready appeal. The finish underlines the class, with a lithe, effortless balance that leaves perfectly ripe flavours lingering, along with the desire for another glass.

92pts JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
A powerful, typically regional shiraz, exuding baking spice, clove, bing cherry and five-spice. Soft and plush, with the caveat of some tangy acidity marking the forceful back end.

91pts The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Deep, dark, rich red-purple colour; very rich chocolate and black fruit aromas, tinged with tar and graphite. There are savoury, almost bitter tannins on the palate and it has a pleasantly earthy/mineral nature, as opposed to fruity. Fleshy and supple, with a good long carry.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

93pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin)
The poise immaculate, attesting to the quality of 2021. Suave, fresh and floral. Blue fruits, a riff on dried seaweed with a sluice of white-pepper-doused freshness towing fine length. A lip-smacking drink, uncannily reminiscent of top cru beaujolais, so mellifluous the feel.
92pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Plum, raspberry, mint, and brown spices. It’s just over medium-bodied, a little saline and minty, but juicy too, with supple tannin, sage and woody spice, finishes quite salty and spicy, with good length. Kind of wheaty too, and slightly warm. Good though. Very sub-regional, as it were.
92pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
After tasting fifty or so big, extracted, heavily oaked Shiraz, this 2021 Cunning Plan Shiraz is like a breath of fresh air. It's mineral, bloody, midweight and spicy, with a skein of fine saline acid that curls through the palate. The red fruit is the very definition of buoyant, and it brings a plume of brine, iodine and ferrous to the fore. It's very good and gets an "A" for style. And it's classily handled.
91pts - Wine Enthusiast
90pts Stuart Knox, The Wine Front
Rich ruby red throughout the glass. Nose lifts with blueberry and pencil graphite. Full weight of fresh blue fruits, still quite primary but there's a note of spice lingering underneath. Tannins are velvety and fine but carry enough tension to drive the flow long. Time should see more savoury character develop.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

93 points (4 Stars) - Gourmet Traveller Wine (Nick Stock)
An intense yet approachable shiraz that sits in the red plum fruit zone on the nose and palate. The plush texture and deeply intense tannins are really striking here. There’s an effortlessness about this wine that really strikes a chord, exactly what McLaren Vale does so well.

92 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
'Sourced from a vineyard in McLaren Flat. 15% new oak. No black adders included in the crush.
Blackberry, plum, dark chocolate, a little vanilla and spice, attractive floral and slightly minty perfume here too. It’s fleshy, all the chocolate dipped plums, a meaty character, fleshy but supple tannin, and fairly long salted plum aftertaste. Nice wine. Classic hearty regional stuff.'

92points - JamesSuckling.com (Nick Stock)
This plump and juicy shiraz has attractively ripe aromas and flavors of red plums that are coated in chocolate, as well as some tarry hints and dark cherries. The palate has depth and approachability with a plush, lip-smacking finish. Drink over the next six years.

91pts Vinous (Josh Raynolds)

90 points - The Real Review (Aaron Brasher)
Expressive aromatics of dark fruits, dried herbs, vanilla and spice. Dark flavours of satsuma plum, blackcurrants, mulberry, chocolate and a lick of mintiness. There's a brightness and freshness to the palate, the tannins are granular and grippy and the acid gives cut and definition.

17/20 points JancisRobinson.com
How can you resist that fruit? Absolutely pixel-perfect plum and brambles on the nose and palate. Sieved tannins and milk-chocolate persistence. There's a lightness to this which is a very different mode to that of Penfolds, say. (RH)
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

TOP 100 (96pts) James Halliday
A full-bodied shiraz that reflects cunning winemaking. Whole berry fermentation has put a rich gloss on the palate without overloading the tannin structure. The predominantly black berry fruit is shot through with licorice, spice and an airbrush of dark chocolate. Drink to 2039, screwcap, 14.5% alc

93pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
'A smoothly delivered shiraz that has deep, fleshy and seductive appeal. The fresh blackberry,
plum and mulberry aromas are nicely dosed with oak spice and deliver such soft, smooth style
on the palate. Really effortless drinkability. Drink now. Screw cap.'

92pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'I tend to think of Thistledown as being Grenache specialists, but they turn out some pretty
stylish Shiraz too. Floral with black fruit, chocolate and something like dried beef. A good dose
of McLaren Shiraz here offering flavour with some restraint, a good amount of chewy texture,
some spice and fruitcake on a solid finish. Tidy.'

BRONZE MEDAL Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2020

90pts Wine Spectator
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

92pts
James Suckling
"Ripe red berries and blackberries, flowers and hints of citrus rind pervade the nose with a fresh core of quite plush dark-berry and chocolate flavors. Ripe blackberries and spice to close. Drink now. Screw cap."

91pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"This is from McLaren Flat, raised in old French oak. I watched one of the first episodes of Black Adder the other week, and always interesting / ageing to see shows filmed in the old box screen format. Blackberry, beef jerky, a little mint and spice. It’s medium to full-bodied, savoury and quite spicy, thick with black fruit and smudgy tannin, some dried herb and a solid dry and savoury finish. You can sink your teeth into this, though it’s not hard to swallow.'

90pts
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep, glass-staining purple/red colour and a fresh, clean, ripe and attractive berry-like fruit aroma, which is not overly simplistic. The wine is full in the mouth and soft, rounded and rich, with lashings of black pepper, spices and red berries to taste. Just a whisker of bitterness, which is OK. A stylish wine."

90pts
The Wine Advocate
"The 2018 Cunning Plan Shiraz comes from a McLaren Flat vineyard and spent a year in 300-liter barrels. It features a nose of scorched cherries, mocha and cinnamon, a medium to full-bodied palate and some silky tannins on the softly dusty finish. Drink it over the next 5-6 years."
Points & Awards - 2016 Vintage

94pts
James Halliday, ww.winecompanion.com.au
“The youthful colour has the depth to promise abundant black fruits, whole berry fermentation underlining the promise. It has the succulence of Langhorne Creek, but with a raft of flowery/spicy notes not so common in the region. Mocha oak adds another dimension, cuddling up to the plump tannins. Hedonistic? You bet.”

90pts
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep, glass-staining purple/red colour and a fresh, clean, ripe and attractive berry-like fruit aroma, which is not overly simplistic. The wine is full in the mouth and soft, rounded and rich, with lashings of black pepper, spices and red berries to taste. Just a whisker of bitterness, which is OK. A stylish wine."
Points & Awards - 2015 Vintage

Silver Medal
International Wine Challenge

90pts
Wines & Spirits Magazine, USA
"All about freshness, this presents its purple fruit with blackberry overtones. There’s nothing heavy or superripe about it. The freshness continues with some rosy floral notes in the meaty tannins. Then it lasts on a simple, clean fruit flavor. A juicy shiraz for grilled baby lamb chops.”
Points & Awards - 2014 Vintage

92pts
James Suckling
Points & Awards - 2013 Vintage

89 pts 3.5 stars
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep red/purple colour and a herbal, floral lifted aroma which seems to refect some less-ripe grapes. There are violet-like floral notes. It’s attractively aromatic. The palate is lean and nervy, medium-bodied and firm, with a little aggression in the grip. Good wine; even better with food."

The Quickening Shiraz

Bottle images
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- Download NV - 2020 vintage and before
Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

93 points - JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
This wine offers very good value, beaming cooler climatic syrah aromas of florals and purple fruits across a force-field of extract, impressive power and yet, a welcome prowess when it comes to the management of the tannins. A card of sophistication at the Barossan table. Appreciated, too, just how delineated and transparent the suite of shiraz at this address has become, echoing the grenaches.

93 points - The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Vibrant purple from core to rim. Mulberry, liquorice and dried beef aromas. Intense blue and purple fruits, rich and weighty with hints of savoury wakame and meaty undertones. A full throttle Barossa shiraz that has the classic velvet glove caress with the iron fist power.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

95 points - Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
Now this is a treat. The cool 2021 season has really gifted the 2021 The Quickening Shiraz with detail, openness and poise, and the tannins emerge as being one of the true highlights. They are ultra fine and grippy, a little bit chewy, and serve to frame the fruit in such a way that they extend the line and length of the experience. I'm smiling as I type this, and I think that's a great sign that I like the wine very much. Delicious.

95 points - The Vintage Journal, Andrew Caillard MW and Angus Hughson
Deep crimson. Intense blackberry, praline hint marzipan aromas. Generously flavoured with inky blackberry pastille flavours, fine loose-knit chalky tannins, very good mid-palate density and well-balanced savoury notes. Finishes bittersweet with a lovely tannin plume. Unforced and delicious.

93+pts The Wine Front
Dried flowers and spice, raspberry and blackberry, a little sullen youthful char here, though you can see how the wine wants to be underneath that, which is fragrant and lively. Medium-bodied, juicy red and black fruits, spicy too, with emery tannin, a subtle meatiness, and a fresh finish of fine length. A subtle saltbush flavour in the mix too. Almost certainly more to come here.
93 points - Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
A deep ruby. Cracked pepper, cardamon and thyme. Plenty floral, too, once the glass is given a workout. The tannins, big -boned and finely articulated, serve to splay the spiced complexities across the refined latticework, from attack to long finish. A rich wine, but cagey, reticent and nicely standoffish in the mouth. Each glass reveals a different nuance as a result.
92 points - JamesSuckling.com
Awash with ripe dark-plum and blackberry fruit aromas, as well as earthy tones, tar and cocoa nibs. Very supple palate that wraps smoothly and delivers a long, easygoing shape. Plenty of fruit. Drinkable and fresh. Drink now. Screw cap.

92pts Gournet Traveller Wine (Best New Releases)
Plenty of rich and ripe blackberry and dark plum fruit on offer here, really intense aromas with some earthy tones, chocolate and tarry aromas too. The palate has such supple and enveloping fruit that wraps softly around soft tannins. Delivers so much flavour.

92 points - The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Deep, bold and bright purple-red colour, the bouquet is intense with licorice and black fruit characters, the palate full-bodied and fleshy, solid and concentrated with density and masses of ripe tannins. This should age beautifully and be long lived.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

96 points - Wine Companion (James Halliday)
Wild fermented with some whole-bunch inclusion; aged in French oak for 8 months. A striking wine, as juicy as quicksilver on the first whiff and taste, before the spicy, savoury whole-bunch nuances come into play. Has the X-factor.

95 points - JamesSuckling.com
Open and fresh, with flowers, green tobacco, purple fruit and dark bitter chocolate. Some orange peel, too. It’s medium-bodied with a compact palate and creamy tannins. Toasted oak at the end. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

94 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
'Mainly Eden Valley, with a little bit from farther down the hill in the Barossa Valley.
Ripe and spicy dark fruit, kind of like spicy fruit pillow biscuits in a way, also chocolate, with dried mint and sage perfume. It’s fleshy and deeply flavoured, some stony grip, juicy orange and a long fresh herb finish. Very good.'

92 points - JamesSuckling.com (Nick Stock)
This is an iteration of Barossa shiraz that delivers intensity of fruit and flavor, within a cleverly toned and tuned framework. Abundant aromas and flavors of red plums and raspberries, as well as some earthy and more savory tones. The pristine fruit is front and center. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

92 points - The Real Review (Aaron Brasher)
Lifted aromas of blue fruits, dark cherry, vanilla and spice. The flavours are bright and vibrant, plenty of juicy raspberry, satsuma plum and crunchy acidity. There's lightness, freshness and real drinkability here.
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

94pts
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'Beheading an ‘immortal’ producers a burst of energy called a ‘Quickening’. Not to be confused
with ‘The Pentaveret’, who run everything in the world, including the newspapers.
Cool fragrance of dried flowers, sage and thyme, black fruit and spice. It’s kind of juicy in the
blackcurrant and blackberry department, with well-knit tannin giving a confident but gentle
grip, fresh feel, and a long and subtly mentholated peppery finish. Very nice. You could well
crave it fortnightly.'

93pts
Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com
'A smoothly delivered shiraz that has deep, fleshy and seductive appeal. The fresh blackberry,
plum and mulberry aromas are nicely dosed with oak spice and deliver such soft, smooth style
on the palate. Really effortless drinkability. Drink now. Screw cap.'

92pts
Huon Hooke, The Real Review
'Deep, bold purple/red colour, with a lovely spicy, plummy, fragrance including various berries,
the palate fleshy and supple, smooth and engaging, with delicious flavour and balance. Some cola and Campari nuances. Very soft, fleshy tannins give it a lovely silken texture.'

90 Points - Wine Advocate
‘Cedar and mocha shadings accent the dark plum and blackberry fruit of Thistledown's 2019 The Quickening Shiraz, a blend of fruit from Eden Valley and Ebenezer. Medium to full-bodied, it's ripe, velvety and delicious but without the "wow" factor of the stunning 2018.’

BRONZE MEDAL Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2020
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

Silver Medal
Barossa Valley Wine Show 2019

93pts
James Halliday
"86% Barossa Valley shiraz, 14% Blewitt Springs grenache, not a s, the grenache acting to soften the somewhat rugged shiraz. The end result is a medium to full-bodied red, which will undoubtedly repay cellaring."

93pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"Blackberry, raspberry, brown sauce and spices, a little mint, almost rosy perfume. A medium-bodied affair showing a light touch in the winery, a certain succulence with a savoury dried herb edge, plush fat tannin, sage and perfume on a good long finish. Very nicely done."

93pts
The Wine Advocate
"Thistledown's 2018 The Quickening Shiraz comes from Eden Valley (75%) and Ebenezer (25%). The blueberries and spice of Eden Valley dominate, but the edges are rounded out by the plushness of the Ebenezer fruit. It's medium to full-bodied, silky and rich, with hints of caramel and cedar on the long, mouthwatering finish."

92pts
James Suckling
"Intense, rich red-plum and raspberry aromas with gently flinty, stony notes. The palate has a smooth array of fine, fresh and vibrant tannins that carry plenty of red-plum and raspberry flavor. Drink or hold. Screw cap."

Silken Beastie Shiraz

Bottle images
Tasting notes
- Download 2018
- Download 2017
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

94pts
Wine Orbit
Stylish and perfumed, the bouquet shows Black Doris plum, violet, tar and roasted nut aromas, leading to a silky-smooth palate offering plump mouthfeel backed by layers of fine-grained tannins. Wonderfully harmonious and soothing with a lengthy refined finish.

93pts
Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate
'Made with 40% whole clusters from three sites in the northwestern Barossa Valley and aged
over a year in 30% new oak, the 2018 Silken Beastie Shiraz lives up to its name, delivering
raspberries, vanilla and mint on a full-bodied, creamy palate framed by silky tannins. It's
mouthwatering and long on the finish, only slowly fading away.'

92pts
The Vintage Journal Barossa Guide 2023
'Deep crimson. Dark cherry roasted walnut aromas with hints of black olive tapenade. Sweet fruited dark cherry, blackberry, black olive hint flinty flavours, fine sinuous tannins and well-integrated acidity. Savoury notes at the finish.'
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

91 Points
James Halliday Wine Companion
‘A meld of fruit from Ebenezer, Kalimna and Koonunga has been handled minimally: fermented indigenously with the inclusion of a small percentage of whole-bunch. The result is rich and seamless. Bitter chocolate. Lilac. Anise, Liquorice. Damson plum and searingly ripe black cherry, with a solid riff of oak. A polished full-bodied wine that will please many.’

Silver Medal
Barossa Valley Wine Show 2019

93pts
The Wine Advocate
"Made with 40% whole clusters from three sites in the northwestern Barossa Valley and aged over a year in 30% new oak, the 2018 Silken Beastie Shiraz lives up to its name, delivering raspberries, vanilla and mint on a full-bodied, creamy palate framed by silky tannins. It's mouthwatering and long on the finish, only slowly fading away."
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

94pts
James Halliday
"From three blocks in the Ebenezer district, whole-bunch inclusion between zero and 40% across the blocks, wild-fermented and macerated, 13 months in French hogsheads (50% new) then a best barrel selection. Oak opens the betting on both the bouquet and palate, but has solid fruit support that should be sufficient to carry the wine to a declaration of readiness for consumption."

94pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
"Blackcurrant, blackberry, something like caramel coated popcorn, spice and dried flower perfume. Medium-bodied, dense feel to the wine, though not heavy, plenty of rich silty tannin, spice and cracked wheat, smooth long finish with an almost lavender and sage perfume trailing. Pleasing sense of composure here, and already very good to drink."

92pts
James Suckling
"This has a deep, blackberry core of aromas and flavors with earth and baking spices also in the mix. The palate texture is luxurious and very fleshy and the dark-berry flavors hold bright and long. Drink now. Screw cap."
Points & Awards - 2016 Vintage

95pts
James Halliday
"You get a lot of expensive wine in your mouth, so rich it seems viscous, with liquer cherry (which isn’t sweet) and finishes bright and fresh (like an Amontillado sherry, which likewise isn’t sweet). And glory be, there’s no sweet alcohol to deal with.’ Screwcap. 14.5% alc. To: 2027"
Points & Awards - 2015 Vintage

96 pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
"90% Barossa Shiraz from Kalimna/ Koonuga/ Ebenezer, and 10% old bushvine Grenache from Blewitt Springs. Deep, although bright, crimson-purple, delicious red and black cherry, plum and blackberry fruits are handsomely framed by fine, ripe tannins and quality French oak. At the moment that oak needs to pull in its horns, but a couple of years will give it no alternative but to do just that.’ Screwcap. To: 2035."

92+pts
Gary Walsh, www.thewinefront.com.au
"Great name for a wine. You’d want to say it with a Scottish accent to best effect, I’d say. Billy Connolly would do a great job. Richness, chocolate and perfume, boysenberry ripple, dried mint, stalk and spice. Medium to full bodied, a bit of grainy tannin here, so not entirely silken, with a slightly too enthusiastic nip from acidity, and a kind of raspberried freshness to the pretty long finish, gently stalky tannin dragging it out'.

91pts
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep red/purple colour. Oak is the most evident note on the nose, and the wine is medium to full-bodied and smoothly-textured with good intensity of fruit and the oak is supportive on the palate, not running the show. Sweet middle and a clean finish."

Bachelor's Block Shiraz

Bottle images
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- Download NV - 2018 and prior
Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

95 points JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
This is a full-weighted wine drawn taut by peppery, sinewy tannins, meshed with an uncanny vibrato of freshness. Pointed accents of lilac, crushed musk, green and black peppercorn, a swirl of blue fruit allusions and a clench of reduction, evincing tension to the finish. Nothing that a brisk decant won't fix. Better, mid-term aging.

95 points (Top Rank) The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Opaque core into a rich purple rim. Rich nose of blood plum, dry earth and bresaola. Rich, dense and slippery with intense black and blue fruits filling the mouth and underlying notes of iodine and dusty ground adding character and appeal. Tannins are prodigious yet of the finest grain, ensuring phenomenal length and focus without taking away from the velvet glide the wine shows.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

95 points Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
95 points JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
This is exceptional from first whiff. Full bodied, to be sure, yet the handling accentuates a furled tannic kit, quality oak and savvy work with whole bunches (35%) delivering a savoury tour de force iterated as black olive pith, tar, blood, clove, aniseed, mace and a ferrous underbelly of ironstone echoing the site. The mid-palate slips into the girth of Barossa, imparting sweet purple fruits and weight. It is always easy, of course, to want less of what is on offer given a region's tendency toward fruity, heavy wines, yet the thrum of energy here delivers length, welcome restraint and serious complexity. The nose alone is worth the price!

95pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2021 Bachelor's Block Ebenezer Shiraz hails from a cooler vintage than the previously tasted and much warmer 2020, however the Ebenezer region does not allow for a light wine to be made, whatever the season. This has density, gravitas and black pull at its very center and is shaped by a rachis of earthy, savory tannins in the mouth. It has blood plum, date, black tea, sweet Champion Ruby tobacco, turned black earth and crushed rocks aplenty. The length of flavor through the finish spools and unfurls and almost gyrates across the tongue and the memory. This is a big wine, with amplitude and impact in equal measure.

94pts The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
Ebenezer Shiraz with 35% whole bunch. Dutch liquoice, spice, blackberry, cracked wheat and dried mint. It’s rich and fleshy, a little ferrous and earthy, kind of saline, but has some raspberry/blackberry pip freshness, a little orange peel bitterness, a quiet ‘mineral’ character runs through it, and the finish is all silty and spiked with clove and cherry liqueur. Structure is excellent, and it’s a wine of distinct character and personality. Excellent.

93pts Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
A deep ruby. Cracked pepper, cardamon and thyme. Plenty floral, too, once the glass is given a workout. The tannins, big -boned and finely articulated, serve to splay the spiced complexities across the refined latticework, from attack to long finish. A rich wine, but cagey, reticent and nicely standoffish in the mouth. Each glass reveals a different nuance as a result.

93pts The Vintage Journal (Andrew Caillard MW and Angus Hughson)
Deep crimson. Fresh dark plum, blackberry, bitter dark chocolate, demi-glace aromas. Richly concentrated dark plum, blackberry pastille, dark chocolate, mocha flavours, fine bittersweet tannins and fresh, long integrated acidity. Finish firm and tangy.

93 points Decanter
Deep, dense primary black fruit with hints of vanilla and oaked spice. Generous palate with peppery layers of dark blackcurrant, razor-sharp acidity and chalky tannins. A joy to drink.

93pts The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Deep ruby and purple in the glass. Ripe mulberry, crushed violets, and nori aromatics. Rich and dense black fruits fill the mouth, the intensity and richness just pushing the ripeness to the edge, but balance is brought by dusty tannins and a deep cola spice layer. Prodigious in length, this wine will build further with time in the cellar.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

96pts Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
Sourced from a single, propitiously sited block in Ebenezer. Hand picked, fermented spontaneously with a seasoning of whole bunches, before maturation in French wood. Subdued aromas of blueberry, licorice, clove, dried nori, sassafras and kirsch. Plenty of oomph. But classy. No jam, or overt angles. The acidity, briny. The tannins, an immaculate sheath, as polished as it is detailed, articulating the fruit and spicy underbelly as a long, chinotto-soused finish. This opens up nicely with time, becoming floral. But still a nascent proposition, needing a whack into a decanter. Superlative, full-bodied shiraz, for those who appreciate structure and refinement.
96pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The fruit profile here is very, very different to the 2020 Where Eagles Dare (Eden Valley). The Ebenezer region provides red dirt and bloody meat with ease; here, the 2020 Bachelor's Block Ebenezer Shiraz brings the earth right into the glass, but it couches it in a way that it seems supple and sophisticated. This is plush and thrilling and, most importantly, satisfying, because when great wine hits all of these marks, it's a reason to get excited.

94pts Nick Stock, James Suckling.com
Here’s a very fresh reinterpretation of Barossa shiraz that doesn’t turn its back on the traditional richness of these wines. Just a touch of hibiscus alongside the damson-plum fruit. This has a very solid core of fine tannins and lively acidity for this category. Fascinating savory finish. Limited production.

92pts Stuart Knox, The Real Review
Deep and almost impenetrable ruby-red colour with a purple-tinged rim. Blackberry, iodine and mocha on the nose. A powerful and intense wine—there’s ample dark fruits that match up to meaty-savoury elements. Simultaneously, the tannins bring tension and drive to focus the fruit-weight and it goes long into the finish.

17/20 points JancisRobinson.com
More red-fruited than their Cunning Plan, with the same lightness of touch in body but no shortage of fruit intensity. Succulent acid, fine tannins and plenty of tarry thickness on the finish. A classic South Australian Shiraz at a premium level that shows more lightness of touch than many styles. (RH)
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

95 pts
James Halliday Wine Companion
‘I like this. A lot! Again, a sturdy clutch of whole-bunch (40%) mettle and a twine of peppery acidity serves to galvanise teeming blue and black fruit flavours with a sense of restraint. No shortage of richness, soaring violet aromas and the heft desired by many. Barossa, after all. But the overall sense is of a wine from somewhere cooler; a hand with a deft touch. Vinous density juxtaposed against an uncanny lightness and thrumming intensity. Kudos!’

95pts
The Wine Advocate
"Grown by Andy Kalleske, the 2018 Bachelor's Block Ebenezer Shiraz is textbook Barossa Valley Shiraz, with bold notes of purple raspberries and mint but also ample weight and concentration on the full-bodied palate, creamy, supple tannins and a rich, velvety and mouthwatering finish. Made with one-third whole clusters and matured in one-third new oak, neither shows much on the surface, but both impart extra dimension to this multifaceted wine. It should drink well for at least a decade."

93pts Wine Spectator
'Powerful and impressive, a juicy mix of currant, maraschino cherry and spiced plum notes that are fleshy and mouthwatering. Earl Grey tea, dark chocolate, cumin and clove details are aromatic and harmonious with velvety tannins and a long, lingering finish. Drink now through 2030.'
Points & Awards - 2017 Vintage

96pts - Great Value
James Halliday
"Hand-picked, wild-fermented with 40% whole bunches, 60% whole berries, 5 days on skins, matured for 18 months in French hogsheads (50% new). A very complex, yet complete, medium to full-bodied shiraz with abundant plum and blackberry fruit threaded with ribbons of spice and positive tannins."

94pts
Gary Walsh, www.winefront.com.au
‘'Single vineyard from Ebenezer. Bachy! Dark fruit, mocha, sage and mint. Full-bodied, dense graphite tannin, bold fruit, but retains a sense of coolness and ‘minerality’, perfume and coal, flows along beautifully and finishes long. A fair bit of class here, not least from a tricky vintage."

92pts
James Suckling
"There’s a very rich feel here with assertive red plums and nicely cut tannins that carry plenty of fresh, punchy red-fruit flavor. Drink or hold.
Points & Awards - 2016 Vintage

97pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
"Deluxe packaging is the start, the vinification precisely reflected in the dark berries of the bouquet and the supple, medium-bodied palate. By both whole-bunch/ berry fermentation and French oak maturation, the tannins are relegated to the sidelines and told to keep quiet. An opulent wine in opulent packaging – no expense spared.’ Cork. 14.5% alc. To: 2046."

93+ pts
Campbell Mattinson, www.winefront.com.au
"It’s earthen and coal-like with rounds of plum-soaked fruit. Oak adds polish and a creaminess to the texture, but not a lot in flavour terms; thankfully. It’s a coherent wine, every aspect on the same page. Tangy, earthen, loganberry-like notes contribute energy and interest. It’s a smart wine. Every detail has been examined and then placed with care."
Points & Awards - 2015 Vintage

94pts
James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
"A natural yeast fermentation which included 40% whole bunches before spending 20 months in 300l French barrels were the recipe for this very well put together Barossa shiraz. Red and black fruits, some olive tapenade and with the whole bunch element nicely integrated, this concentrated, medium to full bodied wine is light on its feet at the same time'.

91pts
Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep red colour with a good purple tint. The bouquet is sweetly ripe berry fruits, with a subtle earthy and sooty overtone. It's soft and rounded with a glycerol-like sweetness and slipperiness. It's full-bodied and smooth-textured, fairly straightforward but has time on its side. The tannins are gentle and supple. Lovely sweet core of fruit, soft enough to enjoy young - but it will also reward cellaring."

"Deep red colour with a good purple tint. The bouquet is sweetly ripe berry fruits, with a subtle earthy and sooty overtone. It's soft and rounded with a glycerol-like sweetness and slipperiness. It's full-bodied and smooth-textured, fairly straightforward but has time on its side. The tannins are gentle and supple. Lovely sweet core of fruit, soft enough to enjoy young - but it will also reward cellaring.'

93+ pts
Campbell Mattinson, www.winefront.com.au
"Bachelor of Bachelor’s, it’s a beauty. Barossa shiraz in full strut. Coal-like, earthen, blackberried, coffeed. Drenched in dark fruit, clipped by smoky oak and that savoury/earthen/brooding character the best Barossa shiraz often boasts. Tannin helps pull the flavours out through the finish. There’s a warmth here but it’s not distracting, or intrusive. Quality here is ‘up there’.

Where Eagle's Dare Shiraz

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Tasting notes
Points & Awards - 2022 Vintage

95 points – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
The best iteration of this cuvee to date, with a cooler aura to a nose of violet, crushed mace, clove, mossy iodine and dark fruit allusions laced with Sichuan pepper grind, salumi and black olive paste. This is a powerful expression, to be sure. Yet it is surprisingly deft and light on its feet, tucking in the extract nicely behind seams of well managed, gristly tannins. This will age nicely. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.

95 points (Top Rank) – The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Virtually opaque at the core, just fading slightly to a deep ruby rim. Blueberry, charred meat and crushed violet aromatics. Has serious dark fruit density and power, as it runs deep there’s ferrous minerality and meaty undertones. Tannins are powerful and chewy which suits all the weight on offer, and it all rolls incredibly long on the palate.
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

94 points – The Vintage Journal (Andrew Caillard MW and Angus Hughson)
Deep crimson. Fragrant blackberry, plum, dark chocolate aromas with graphite notes. Well-concentrated blackberry, dark plum, black cherry fruits, fine chalky textures, long juicy acidity and well-balanced savoury complexity. Finishes bittersweet with attractive mineral length.

94 points – Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
Sourced from the Mengler Hill site in Eden Valley. Hand picked and fermented wild in a concrete egg, replete with 20% whole bunches, before transfer to French oak (20% new). A lather of lilac, lavender and aniseed defines a sumptuous nose. Purple fruits and rosewater, the palate, with a creep of tannin growing in gravitas across the back end as the wine opens. This is a delicious, full-weighted expression of considerable class and detail. Top of the totem in the region.

93 points – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2021 Where Eagles Dare Shiraz hails from the Mattschoss vineyard up in Eden Valley, and the wine is intially quite aromatically subdued. In the mouth, the fruit bursts from the docks, with licorice, blackberry, mulberry and black olive brine. The wine feels like it needs a really good decant to assist it in unfurling and giving up some of the characters we know it can have. The wine is elegant and fine yet grunty and forthright, driven by tannin and grit in the mouth. For all of these descriptors, the wine is actually elegant, but it just does so with some texture, which I like. Bottle number 0996 of 1775, 14.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam and wax

93 points – The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
In my opinion, Grenache is the main game for Thistledown. Their Shiraz is good, but their Grenache is next level. Dark cherry, plenty of biscuit spice and sweet oak, floral too, with a slightly grassy/wheatgerm character. It’s very purple tasting, blueberry and boysenberry pie, sage brushed and gently herbal, with a juicy finish of excellent length. A little bit saline with it, some crushed rock tannin as it goes. Maybe oak is a little too dominant as at now, though the fruit wins the day. Very good.

93 points – The Real Review (Stuart Knox)
Bright purple from core to rim. Cherry cola, crushed lavender and thyme aromatics. Medium to full bodied with bright plum fruit on the palate that is well matched to mountain herb and graphite mineral savoury elements. Still very primary and youthful but there's no doubting the intensity or drive. Give it plenty of air or cellar time before enjoying.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

97 points – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The fruit for the 2020 Where Eagles Dare Shiraz is from the Matchoss Vineyard in the Eden Valley. One assumes the title refers to the great elevation at which this vineyard is situated; 550 meters above sea level is a commanding perch. The dirt up there is pink quartz pressed into ironstone, and it's compacted into all the dirt roads you care to drive down. It's a beautiful thing, actually. Aromatically, the wine offers up sumac, biltong and mulberries with a graphite, crushed lead-pencil character. The wine is minerally and layered with black tea, spring flowers, red apple skins and a raft of forest berries. Really smart, and a decant is going to open this up untold.

95 points - The Real Review (Aaron Brasher)
Young, purple and deep in colour. Aromas of satsuma plum, dark cherry, cola, dried herbs, vanilla and spice. Rich and dark-fruit flavoured, plush with plenty of plum and blackberry, there's a sarsparilla lift as well. Acidity is bright and lively. Firm, textured tannins give structure and mouth-feel and provide a counter to the lush fruit.

94 points – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
94 points – Halliday Wine Companion(Ned Goodwin MW)
Hand-picked from a site hewn out of pink quartz and ironstone at 550m elevation. Fermented wild and aged for 12 months in tight-grained French wood. This is dense, compact and tense enough to allow for graceful ageing. A large-framed and clearly warm-climate wine, yet the tannins are refined and saliva-inducing. In its infancy it has aromas of cedar and mocha oak, bitter chocolate, iodine, black olive tapenade, anise and blue-to-darker fruit allusions with a hint of violet and charcuterie. Very good.

94 points – Vinous (Josh Raynold)
Deep, violet color. Powerful, spice-accented cassis, cherry-cola and fruitcake aromas are sharpened by a smoky mineral element. Succulent black and blue fruit flavors show very good depth as well as energy and pick up vanilla and violet pastille accents with air. Supple and broad on the clinging, subtly tannic finish, which leaves repeating dark berry and floral notes behind.

92pts The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
Blackberry, blackcurrant, floral too, plenty of mint and sage, with toasty cinnamon and clove oak. It’s supple, dark fruited, a menthol and mint coolness here too, almond paste and spicy oak. Tannin is milky soft, and spreads nicely through the palate, slightly saline, blueberries and raspberry, with firm powdery tannin running on a mint nougat finish of fine length.
Points & Awards - 2019 Vintage

94 points - The Wine Front
'Fermented in concrete egg, 20% whole bunch, from a vineyard perched up at 550m above the level of the sea.
Perfume and spice over brooding black fruit and dark chocolate. It’s a little bit chewy, rich and packed with nuts and dark chocolate, but has that layer of spice and perfume coming through which lightens and adds contour and detail. Tannin is thick and gummy, the finish long and rolling. It’s an excellent expression of Barossa Shiraz, and very nicely turned out too.'

93 Points - Wine Advocate
‘Hints of crushed stone and dried herbs accent the blueberry-scented nose of the 2019 Where Eagles Dare Shiraz. Sourced from a vineyard at 550 meters above sea level, it's a large-scaled wine but one without much in the way of puppy fat. Medium to full-bodied, structured and sinewy, with a generous helping of silky tannins and a lingering, intense finish marked by savory overtones of mocha, anise and dried herbs, it should age well for more than a decade.’

Distant Light Grenache Shiraz

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Tasting Notes
Points & Awards - 2021 Vintage

95pts – Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
The 2021 Distant Light Grenache Shiraz is polished and spicy and supple, with an unbroken flow of flavor across the palate. The tannins from both Shiraz and Grenache swirl in concert, like a perfectly linked DNA chain from front to back. The wine is polished and succulent, with saturated red and black fruits. The Grenache component is from Blewitt Springs and Clarendon in McLaren Vale, and the Shiraz is from the Barossa, Ebenezer and Mengler's Hill. Talk about blending super regions and super varieties. It's a glossy wine, totally lustrous and sleek. Between you and me, the tannins manage to retain their savory/earthy/gritty countenance amid the sea of fruit, and this juxtaposition is the secret to its success.

95pts – The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
Grenache from Blewitt Springs and Clarendon, with Shiraz from Ebenezer and Mengler Hill. 51% Grenache, 49% Shiraz.
Plenty of exotic spice and perfume, dark cherry, dried raspberry, cocoa, a little marzipan. It’s medium to full-bodied, smooth and slinky, with fine silty tannin, perfume and succulence of cherry and strawberry, with a long and subtly stony saline finish. The mesh of McLaren Vale Grenache and Barossa Shiraz works to such good effect. Delightful!

94pts – JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
A neighbourly blend from the continental extremities of Barossa, to the maritime freshness of McLaren Vale. It works well, too. Umami-laden aromas of beef dripping, porcini, Japanese daikon and bouillon. Mulled cherry, tea tree, clove and white pepper. The finish, taut and nicely racy. There seems to be ample stuffing behind the immediate veneer of tannin, suggesting that this full-weighted, albeit, elegant wine, has loads in store for those with patience. Drinkable now with an aggressive decant, but best after 2027.

94pts – The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Deep-ish red-purple, very good colour. Aromas of dark fruits and earthy/rocky scents with a wasabe/spice note. It's medium-full bodied and has a sheen of drying tannins that are quite assertive for a wine of medium fruit concentration. The flavours are very appealing, an elegant wine indeed, beautifully made. Should build more complexity if cellared a while.
Points & Awards - 2020 Vintage

Wines of the Year - 97 points - Vinous/Wine Pilot (Angus Hughson)
This immediately enticing and complete wine draws you in with its intriguing blend of ethereal aromas with more than a passing resemblance to fine Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Suave dark cherry, charcuterie, peppery spice, raspberry and roasted meat aromas deliver power and subtlety, beautifully matched to sweet oak. The Shiraz and Grenache then come together superbly to deliver a mouthfilling palate with fantastic fruit density plus a rich velvety texture underlined by firm tannins that builds to peacock’s tail finish. Seriously impressive.
96pts - The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Good depth of colour and hue, there are some char-oak aromas but the bouquet while clean and fresh is a bit shy. The palate has ironstone and graphite as well as char-oak over rich plummy fruit and pleasingly supple tannins giving it an agreeably soft texture. It's young and straightforward now and would reward cellaring. Concentrated and velvet-smooth, with a tremendously long aftertaste. Great potential.

94pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin)
In line with all the other wines from Thistledown, the 2020 Distant Light Grenache Shiraz is medium bodied, supple, fresh, spicy and mellifluous. It's a pleasure to drink, and it speaks of both regions with clarity. The Barossa brings earth and grit, gravitas and density, while McLaren peppers the wine with life and red fruit. The tannins are a highlight; they're very fine and chalky, but they do their bit with shaping the wine and driving the flavor through into the finish.

91pts The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
Exotic spice, marzipan, red and black fruits, a bit of bacon bone and mint. It’s medium-bodied, nutty and fleshy, plenty of spice and poached strawberry, maybe sits a little flat on the palate, and lacking a little vigour and energy, fine grained tannin, and a smoky meaty and salty finish of solid length. Good wine, and I’d maybe say drink it on the younger side.
Points & Awards - 2018 Vintage

95pts Ned Goodwin, Halliday Wine Companion
'A neighbourly blend of grenache from Blewitt Springs and Clarendon in the Vale, with warmer shiraz from Ebenezer and Mengler Hill. Picked by hand, fermented under the aegis of spontaneity with ample whole-bunch seasoning and maturation in top-drawer French oak. This is seamless. Again, the tannins maketh the wine: pithy, taut and juicy. Gorgeous aromas of mottled red plum, five-spice, white pepper, clove, cardamon and kirsch, expanding across the finish. Grenache the clear leader of the pack. For the better. Thrilling length. I'd drink this with youth on its side.'

95 points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
'Grenache (51%) from Blewitt Springs and Clarendon meets Shiraz (49%) from Ebenezer and Eden Valley. Raised in concrete and large format French oak.
All the berries, exotic spice, dried mint and sage, musk and roses. Just over medium-bodied, love the feel of the suede-like tannin, ripe berries, dried beef and grilled mushroom, spicy, perfumed and long to close. Classic feel to this, and I’d say it will age pretty nicely too.'

95 points - The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Deep, bright red/purple colour. Smoky-meaty, oaky and slightly animal aromas, with some age development evident. Touches of dark chocolate. The wine is drying and very savoury in the mouth, some oak evident, the aftertaste firm and very drying. Shiraz seems to be driving it, rather than grenache. Powerful finish and great length. It's a contrast to the usual Thistledown style and seems built for ageing. The solid backbone would be softened by a hearty meat dish. (Shiraz from Ebenezer and Mengler Hill; grenache from Blewitt Springs and Clarendon).

95pts – Club Oenologique (Huon Hooke)
The winemaker, Englishman Giles Cooke MW, used Barossa Shiraz grapes sourced from Ebenezer and Mengler Hill plus McLaren Vale Grenache from Blewitt Springs and Clarendon. This is powerful, concentrated and dark, a more structured wine than Thistledown’s usual style, with flavours ranging from smoked meat to dark chocolate, backed by firm drying tannins. A solid, age-worthy red.

93 Points - JamesSuckling.com (Nick Stock)
A blend with such an intense nose of ripe blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, as well as a sanguine, savory edge already adding interest. Deep flavors and a velvety, smooth texture in the mouth. Long finish. Drink over the next eight years.

93 Points - Wine Advocate
‘A blend of 51% McLaren Vale Grenache (from Blewitt Springs and Clarendon) and 49% Barossa Shiraz (from growers Hoffmann, Kelleske and Mattschoss), the 2018 Distant Light Grenache Shiraz displays more obvious oak than the other Thistledown wines, despite being aged in a mix of larger-format barrels and concrete vessels. The notes of cedar and vanilla are balanced by concentrated cherry-berry fruit, with delicate herbal nuances (mint, bay leaf) adding welcome grace notes. It's medium to full-bodied and silky on the palate, polished, refined and elegant, with a long, harmonious finish.’

Wild & Wilder Wines

The Sophisticat Sauvignon Blanc
92 points - Wine Orbit
Bright and fresh, this is attractively fragrant on the nose showing Granny Smith apple, nectarine, sweet basil and lime peel aromas. The palate displays excellent fruit vibrancy and intensity, backed by juicy acidity, making it mouth-watering and immediately enjoyable. At its best: now to 2024.
The Courtesan Riesling
2022
92 points - Wine Orbit
Terrific value Clare Valley Riesling from a great vintage. From a single vineyard at the southern end of the Valley. A light crushing and only the free-run juice is used, with a cool fermentation. The wine is a very pale straw colour. Appealing nose with notes of spices, lemons, river stones, florals and a tiny hint of coconut oil which is not a common Riesling trait, but is actually rather intriguing. Decent length here, with good balance, the wine is clean and fresh. Enjoy it over the next four to six years.

2021
93 points - Decanter
'Lemon oil and olive brine notes with guava and bergamot undertones. Creamy and biscuity on the palate, slippery and sensuous, with a long, juicy finish. Fun! Mouth-filling aromatic Riesling that’s already pleasing and a good price.’

93 points - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
Bright and delicately expressed, the inviting bouquet shows green apple, lemon pith and lime zest aromas, leading to a finely textured palate that's brilliantly focused and persistent. Elegant and refreshing with a lively finish. At its best: 2023 to 2033.

91 points - Wine Pilot

2020
94 points - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

2019
90pts Nick Butler, The Real Review
'Dark cherry-red colour with brighter edges. Vibrant and primary, ripe plums and mocha, clove-spice and cured meats. A juicy 'joven' style, oak largely imperceptible. Balanced, easy drinking.'
The Unforgettable GSM
94 points - Wine Orbit
'It's wonderfully appealing on the nose showing blackberry, dark cherry, vanilla, hazelnut and mixed spice aromas, followed by a flavoursome palate that's filled with delectable fruit flavours combined with velvety texture, finishing long and satisfying. At its best: now to 2030.'

92 points - Wine Pilot
A blend of the three Rhone varieties – Grenache (45%), Shiraz (35%) and Mataro (20%) – which hail from a variety of South Australian regions, including the famed Langhorne Creek. Crimson red in colour. We have notes of strawberries, florals, raspberries and even a hint of red jellybeans. A soft and appealing palate with typical Grenache-y tannins, a mix of the silky and ever-so-slightly sandy. Decent length with warm earth notes emerging on the palate. A lingering finish reveals the full flavours here. Now for five to six years.

2020
- 92 points - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
The Pugilist Cabernet Sauvignon
2021

93 points - Wine Pilot (Ken Gargett)
Superb Cabernet from a dreadfully underrated region. Curious name, though I am sure that the team had its reasons. A fine vintage, the grapes were harvested early to ensure the retention of freshness, while the use of whole berries in the ferment maintains vibrancy. Vivid purple in colour, the nose is immediately alluring. There is a hint of an oaky note but well integrated, with toast and vanilla notes. Cloves, chocolate, bay leaves, black fruits, licorice and cassis. The palate is seamless, the flavours delicious. Excellent length here too, through to silky tannins. A full-flavoured, rich and plush wine, with good structure, offering great drinking now and sure to continue over the next five to six years. A very fine example of a warmer climate Cabernet.

93 points - Wine Orbit
Beautifully ripe and fragrant with blackcurrant, dark plum, floral, clove and toasted almond characters, it’s succulent and supple in the mouth delivering excellent weight and fine flow. Tannins are polished and just right, making it well structured and persistent.

92 points – Ray Jordan
Love this cabernet from Langhorne Creek. The aromas of red currant and light bay leaf are followed by a smooth and seamlessly structured medium bodied palate. Has an appealing chalky feel as it extends effortlessly to a very long finish. This is a thoroughly delicious wine that I would struggle to keep my mitts off now. Although it has a medium term cellaring future if you wish.

TOP VALUE (90 points) The Real Review (Aaron Brasher)
Fresh and lifted aromas of mulberry, plums, menthol, dusty oak and dried herbs. Nicely weighted flavours, plenty of dark fruit wedded nicely with textured, granular tannins and lively acidity. Very good value.
The Exhibitionist Merlot
90 points - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
It's fruit forward and beautifully fragrant with Black Doris plum, raspberry, floral, thyme and roasted nut aromas, leading to a supple palate that's juicy and flavoursome. Well rounded and smooth with a lengthy succulent finish.
The Opportunist Shiraz
2022
93 points (Excellent) - Wine Pilot
No secret that I am a big fan of the red wines of Langhorne Creek and this is another very fine example, providing cracking drinking.
Inky maroon in colour. The aromas are a mix of black fruits, licorice, axle grease, campfire notes and chocolate. The wine is supple, sleek, seductive and with very good length. Fine, silky tannins tie things together, leaving everything well balanced. This will drink beautifully for the next four to eight years. Absolutely delicious.

2021
93 points - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
Upfront and immediately appealing, the perfumed bouquet shows black/blueberry, violet, mixed spice and subtle cocoa notes on the nose. The palate is equally attractive with juicy fruit intensity, wonderfully complemented by plump mouthfeel and silky tannins.

91 points - Wine Pilot (Ken Gargett)
Another fine red from an excellent vintage and an always reliable region. Twenty-five year old vines, picked to ensure freshness. Again, whole berries assist in retaining vibrancy and the wine spent 8 months in oak. Dark purple in colour, the nose offers notes of chocolate, handfuls of warm earth, spices, coffee grinds, mushrooms and dark fruits. The structure exhibits obvious concentration and power with good fruit intensity, ripeness and more chocolate notes emerging. Rather than the finesse of the Pugilist, this offers a more burly power. Finishing with decent length, this will drink well for a decade.

91 points – Ray Jordan
One thing you can guarantee with the wines of Langhorne Creek – they will be so enticing and drinkable. This one is right on the money. Bright and vibrant red fruits with a little mix of cherry and plum. Fine chalky tannins sit comfortably within the fleshy fruit while a little oak adds a lift on the finish. Nice current drinking wine.

TOP VALUE & TOP RANK (90 points) The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
Deep, bright purple/red colour. Spicy and dry-herb aromas, reserved and appealing, more than just simple fruit. There's a twist of pepper and suggestions of whole-bunch fermentation, the palate intense and medium to full-bodied, with a twist of bitterness in the tannins which doesn't mar it. A bold, bright, primal red that already drinks well if you like 'em that young.

2020
92 points - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

2019
90pts & BEST BUY - Wines & Spirits Magazine
The Wild Ones Chardonnay
2022
91 points - Wine Pilot
Top value Chardy which even offers a flick of oak. The colour here is a lime/gold hue. We have aromas of stonefruits, a touch of the tropical, a hint of truffle, nougat and florals. Moderate length and decent concentration here, on the palate. A flick of ginger lingers and peach notes emerge, along with that touch of oak. Thoroughly enjoyable now, it will drink well over the next three to four years. At this price, an easy choice.
The Wild Ones Shiraz Cabernet
- 2020 Product Information
- Bottle image.png
2022
92 points - Wine Pilot
Stunning value here for a delicious example of the famous Aussie red blend, Shiraz and Cabernet. A South Australian blend with a garnet hue, there are lovely lifted aromas to begin proceedings. Chocolate, cigar box, boysenberries, dry herbs, bay leaves and hints of fresh beetroot. A sleek texture with good length, this is delightfully fresh but built to age, at least for the medium term. Slippery tannins. Now for at least the next six years.
Cloud Cuckoo Land White
2022
This reminds me of the deep Mediterranean and its languorous hillside towns. Dry muscat (aka zibibbo) from old bush vines, like this, the first glass of many long evenings. While fiano (20%) infuses some zip and pungency, this could be so many beautiful things it doesn't really matter. The inspiration is the liquid in the glass and the places that scents of grape spice, orange blossom, ginger, wild fennel and raw almond transport you to across the wine's gentle waft of freshness. Chill and drink with gusto! Is this not the best apero in the country?
92 points & Special Value - Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
92 points - Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com
The 2022 Wild & Wilder Cloud Cuckoo Land Fiano Zibibbo (aka Muscat d'Alexandria) is floral, spritely and uber pretty, as we would expect from the varietal smash. With spring flowers, lychee, green apple, rosewater, petals—the list goes on—there’s lots of pleasure here. Drink it this summer.
Erin Larkin, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate

80% Fiano, 20% Zibibbo (Muscat). Cloudcuckooland a wonderful album by The Lightning Seeds.
The Muscat adds plenty of floral, grape and musk stick perfume, also pear and almond. It’s juicy, with a light chalky grip, pear skin and grapes, a crisp and firm saline finish of good length. Such fun, and lovely to drink. Beautifully turned out.
91 points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

2021
'45%/41%/14% greco/fiano/zibbibo constitute an idiosyncratic and playful blend, drawing on deep Mediterranean roots. Sourced from the Riverland, a bastion of industrial wine, this is exemplary, versatile and delicious. Grape spice, orange blossom, citrus and pistachio.'
90 pts - Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
Cloud Cuckoo Land Red
90 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
Black jelly bean, cherry, dried herbs, a sort of salty dried beef thing. It’s medium-bodied, juicy red and blue fruits, a savoury black olive/tobacco character, light but present tannin, and a finish of good length. A little bit salty, perhaps, but it’s a good drink this one, nicely turned out, and would be ideal with a BBQ.

90 points - The Real Review (Huon Hooke)
‘Deep red with a tint of purple and aromas of herbs and nuts, with a smoky/toasty fruit/oak combination. The palate is full-bodied and firm with lashings of tannins that dry the finish and add to length.
A wine with a bright future.’

90 points - Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
90 points - JamesSuckling.com (Ned Goodwin MW)
A righteous blend of sturdy Italianates serving up just enough fruit, structure and savouriness in a mid-weighted guise. With that, an innate desire to drink a second glass. Reductive at first whiff, yet red fruits marinating with beef bouillon, thyme, rosemary and lavender, grab attention. The finish, gently ferrous and herbal, with a kick of dried tobacco leaf, mint and pepper grind. A highly versatile, strongly recommended dry table wine.

2021

90 points - The Wine Front (Gary Walsh)
'Montepulciano (60%), Nero (28%) and Barbera (12%) from Riverland. The name Riverland would give you quite a different impression from the reality of the landscape, perhaps.
Cherry, a little black jelly bean/anise thing, subtle paprika smokiness. It’s light to medium-bodied, fresh, with light grip of tannin, some juiciness and saltbush, and a crisp finish of good length. It’s fun, and good to drink. I think 2021 a good vintage for this wine.'

Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
66/28/12% montepulciano/nero d’Avola/barbera. A simple, pulpy, mid-weighted red offering versatility and pleasure. Purple- and blue-fruit allusions, lilac florals, a jubilant succulence and a trail of anise, clove and iodine. Best enjoyed on the cooler side.

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