When you’ve built a brand that revolves around sourcing interesting and often ancient vineyards, and you treat your growers respectfully and you pay them well – good things are bound to come your way. Giles was lucky enough to latch onto these two fruit parcels and has produced a Rhône-inspired white which takes the richly textured Roussanne and blends it with the crisp, green apple and citrus of Grenache Blanc to create a wine of real balance and complexity. Walking with Kings is a wine that we have always wanted to make – one that is true to our original goals and is not driven by commercial compromise.

Handpicked Roussanne from Sellicks Hills, biodynamic Grenache Blanc from Kangarilla. Both varieties are handpicked and fermented separately. Roussanne is whole bunch pressed, lightly settled and wild fermented in French oak. Grenache Blanc is oxidatively handled prior to wild ferment in concrete. The two components blend prior to bottling. Ned Goodwin (James Halliday – 95pts; James Suckling – 95 pts) had this to say on the 2022 vintage: 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.