Thistledown Sands Of Time Old Vine Grenache 2023
A richly textured white wine with creamy, aromatic and exotic notes from Roussanne and more vibrant, green apple from Grenache. The end result is a wine so versatile, complex yet so moreish.
“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!”
97 Points – The Wine Advocate
“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. Drink or hold. ”
95 Points – James Suckling
Despite once being the most planted variety in Australia, Grenache is now just 1% of plantings. It’s decline, from the 1950’s through to the 2000’s, saw many of the oldest plantings disappear and when Giles & Fergal first started Thistledown, they committed to helping Grenache recover and to establish it as the signature variety for South Australia. Early on in their Grenache journey, Giles and Fergal were introduced to Sue Trott’s Home Block in the Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale and have been refining how they vinify this fruit for many years, resulting in the first release of Sands of Time in 2017. It faithfully narrates the story of this remarkable vineyard, where, despite the paucity of the soils, the old bush vines flourish, producing small yields of intensely flavored fruit which Thistledown coax through a uniquely gentle fermentation. In it’s first 3 vintages, this wine had established itself as one of the benchmark Grenaches in Australia, helping tofulfil Thistledown’s commitment to the long term future of the variety.
All fruit for this wine was sourced from a single 75 year old vineyard of bush vine Grenache grown on pure sand. It’s beautiful aspect, raised elevation and free-draining deep sandy soils are the perfect spot for this grape and Giles and Fergal were really lucky to be offered the opportunity to purchase a little fruit from here. Hand-picked, on the way up (to optimal ripeness), the wine was vinified naturally in concrete eggs, where whole bunches were placed alternately with destemmed fruit to create a layer cake. A very gentle, slow, wild fermentation took several days to complete, following which the wine was transferred to a combination of barrels and concrete eggs. 10 months later, following the assemblage, the wine was bottled unfiltered and unfined. A faithful expression of the site – beautiful, haunting aromatics, fine sandy tannins and wonderful, memorable length on the palate.
3060 Bottles made
