Thistledown She’s Electric Grenache 2019

The aromatic, perfumed aromas on the nose lead through to a delicate yet vibrant palate of spiced wild strawberry fruit, violets and cinnamon. Energetic and almost crisp on the palate. A touch leaner profile than some might expect, but nervy and focused, with laser like precisionand length. Textured, enticing and delicious.
96 pts James Halliday
96 pts James Suckling
92 pts Huon Hooke
(2018 – 96 pts James Halliday, 94 pts Decanter,
93 pts James Suckling, 91 pts Wine Advocate)
A hugely important wine for Thistledown as this helped to redefine what contemporary, old vine Grenache is all about. This is a single vineyard project inspired by a remarkable, typically Australian tale. When Thistledown visited the first time, it was noticeable that there was a patch of young vines in the middle of the old vine plot. It turns out that there had been a power cut and during the outage some birds perched on a power line that crosses the vineyard. As the electricity surged through the line again, a combustible bird fell to the ground and set fire to the vineyard, destroying half of the original vines making a scarce resource even scarcer. Thankfully half of the vines survived and the
fruit used for this wine, is from the older part of the vineyard. Perhaps showing his age, Giles immediately thought of the song She’s Electric by UK band Oasis, and from that moment on, the name became synonymous with this incredible old vineyard. Drawing on the themes of energy and current, Thistledown pick this wine early which, when combined with the wild, 50% whole bunch ferment and gentle plunges ensures a wine that may be pale, but is oh so aromatic, textural and infused with wild red fruits, herbs and minerals with layers of flavor that unfurl across the tongue.