grenache

Yalumba 2013 Old Bush Vine Grenache

/ Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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The Royal Adelaide Wine Show has wrapped up for another year and, positions on wine shows aside, I’ve been lucky enough to try a few of the medal winning wines from this year’s entries. This has been thanks to my involvement in the Wine Communicators of Australia SA Chapter committee – so I’m in the luxurious position of neither having to pay for the wines directly nor feeling beholden to any producer.

I was also lucky enough to be able to share these wines with some of my family and the reason I’ve chosen to write about the Yalumba Grenache first is that it was, easily, the wine that was the biggest hit with my small sample of enthusiastic non-industry drinkers. There was even some acknowledgement that seeing ‘Yalumba’ would be cause to skip the wine in a retail environment (I guess you can get too big!). This wine picked up the top gold medal in Class 34 – Grenache 2013 and older. This was a small class with fewer than 25 entries and more than half picking up medals. What conclusions to draw from this … I know not!

It is disappointing though that this the show’s lone Grenache class was so small – as Grenache is a grape capable of producing really lovely wines that hold their own against our blockbuster Shirazes and Cabernets. It is food friendly, approachable and capable of ageing. In South Australia we are also privileged to have plenty of seriously old Grenache vines. Indeed, the vines that produced the grapes for this wine were planted in 1898.

So what is it like in the glass?

Appearance wise, medium intensity, and purple-ruby in colour. The nose is reasonably pronounced, showing strawberry and strawberry leaf and stem characters with a touch of tobacco and cedar.

On the palate, the stemmy/stalky notes are very much in the background to lots of fresh red fruit – strawberries and raspberries, wrapped up with a little white pepper and warm spice. Some of the cedar shows up too. What is really lovely and refreshing about this wine is that you get to experience this spice complexity and then it wraps up with another burst of fresh, juicy strawberry. The tannins are soft and the acidity is actually not too bad either which I think adds to the sensations of ripe red fruit, but it’s not over the top (which you wouldn’t expect in a Grenache anyway) meaning there’s no tartness.

Perhaps what is most pleasing about this wine is that you can pick it up for under $20. Even at a slightly higher price point this wine would represent something of a bargain, but below $20 there’s just no excuse not to give it a try.

Widely available.
Screwcap.
13.5% abv.

Another bonus: it is both vegetarian and vegan friendly.

Tim Smith Wines 2010 Barossa Mataro Grenache Shiraz

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My notes now reveal I am just two months behind in my typing. At this rate, I’ll never be able to share with you any gems beyond the tasting notes themselves.

On several trips to the bottle shop I’ve noticed the small selection of Tim Smith Wines on the shelves and thought I should try one. If I recall correctly, at least one is outside my mid-week spend limit, but seeing a write up of the wines in general in a local paper, motivated me to actually get around to
buying one.

The blend of grapes is one which is comfortably familiar: Mataró, also known as Mourvèdre or Monastrell, Grenache and Shiraz are very often seen as a GSM blend and if you ever find yourself trying a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or other Southern Rhône appellations, then you will most likely be drinking a similar blend. To see the M as the dominant grape variety is a little quirkier, but referring to it as the more pronounceable and spellable Mataró. While you’ll often see the grave accent on the French Mourvèdre, you’ll less frequently see the acute accent on the Catalan Mataró. Monastrell is Spanish and, really helpfully, between the two Iberian variants, they are also synonyms for other grapes. You have to keep your wits about you.

Now you’re confused … what about the wine? My notebook indicates that these notes were written on the second day the wine was open.

In the glass, appearance is medium intensity and a youthful ruby with just a touch of purple about it.

The nose shows berries, berry leaves and complexity in the form of licorice, tar and aniseed. On the palate, these aromas are rather reversed with the savoury characteristics, especially the spice and a cedar finish, outshining the fresh red and black berry fruit. I did note that the fruit was, unsurprisingly, a little diminished on the second day.

The wine has a good structure: acidity, tannins and alcohol are all in balance and the wine has a good length, with that lovely savoury finish.

As I typically prefer wines with something other than a bowlful of fresh fruit on the palate, this was right up my street. And, of course, immensely food friendly.

As is often the case with our local, this wine is a back vintage, but the current release (2012) is available from Tim Smith Wines for $28.

$25-$30 from Cellarbrations, Flagstaff Hill.
Screwcap.
14.5% abv.

WBW80: Dry Rose

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I was pretty pleased to spot a discussion about the return of Wine Blogging Wednesday on facebook. Wine Blogging Wednesday, after running for ages, has had something of a hiatus but in its earlier incarnation I was a reasonably regular participant and I often found it a good excuse to try something very left of field.

Of course, a bit more regular writing* and engaging with the wine blogging community is no bad thing – especially as I’ll be heading off to the Digital Wine Communications Conference in a couple of months.

I won’t lie – I was pretty disappointed that the theme for the return of WBW was dry rosé. Here in the southern hemisphere it’s the middle of winter and rosé is the last thing on my mind (especially this week – our twenty year old hot water service has just given up the ghost!).

But if nothing else I figured it would be good practice for summer. My initial thoughts had been to head out and find some new, quirky, different, small batch … and then I ran out of time to hit the shops where I’d be able to find such gems. I ended up with a bottle of 2013 Turkey Flat Rosé, from South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

Turkey Flat is a well known, established and well regarded winery with some seriously old vines. Last time I was up there (yes, I’m privileged enough to about an hour and a half’s drive away) we came away with a few reds so I was expecting good things.

Still, enough waffle – and on to the wine, a blend of Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Dolcetto. Make of that what you will.

In the glass, the wine is a very pretty pale salmon pink.

The nose is pretty pronounced but I didn’t get a lot of fresh fruit. Think confected: pink lollies, sherbert and musk.

On the palate the wine is dry (residual sugar is actually 4.8g/L so some may detect the merest hint of sweetness) with good, refreshing acidity. Although the palate starts off reflecting the confected nose, there is some tannic structure and (hoorah!) some fresh strawberries and raspberries.

If you can’t tell, I was a bit disappointed in this wine. Not because it’s a bad wine but because it’s a style of wine that just doesn’t appeal to me. I know there are tons of people for whom this style works and they will love this wine but I look for something a bit more steely, serious and stern in a rosé.

If you’re looking for something fun, pink and relatively uncomplicated to drink this summer (wherever you are!) this could definitely be for you.

This wine was purchased from Dan Murphy’s for about $17.
Closure: screw cap.
Alcohol: 13% abv.

* If you’re worried about my blogging commitment, I do write a food blog, Eating Adelaide, and I know the DWCC organisers are keen to get more involvement from food bloggers … talk about hedging your bets!