McLaren Vale Grenache: 20 top wines to try

All but decimated by the government’s 1980’s vine pull scheme, McLaren Vale has 450 hectares of Grenache, representing just 6.15% of plantings. But, punching above its weight, it is no coincidence that the Southern Australian region has hosted the pan-Australian James Halliday Grenache Challenge (JHGC) since it began in 2017.

Commenting on 2019’s results, the leading critic of some 50 years’ standing pronounced Grenache as ‘McLaren Vale’s secret weapon – not merely Australia’s best, but every bit as good as that of the Rhône Valley.’With a warm, dry Mediterranean climate like the Southern Rhône, Grenache flourishes in McLaren Vale. Yet, according to UK importer Giles Cooke MW, when he co-founded Thistledown Wines less than a decade ago ‘many growers were still contemplating pulling vines’, and Bernard Smart sold grapes to Melbourne and Sydney families to make into wine at home!

Thanks to a region-wide makeover, there’s now a queue for Smart’s fruit, which produced all three Clarendon sub-regional recommendations. They include Thistledown’s This Charming Man 2018, a gold medallist at the McLaren Vale Show 2019, where the producer swept the board and won the JHGC with single vineyard Grenaches which epitomise the region’s acclaimed new wave style.

Fellow UK importer David Gleave MW of Liberty Wines and co-founder of Willunga 100, another Grenache specialist, captures it perfectly. ‘Fragrance, tannins and lovely acidity – the Pinot Noir end of the Grenache spectrum.’

Unlike old-school full-bodied ‘dry reds,’ fresher and lighter-bodied, premium contemporary examples (£20 plus) beautifully articulate Grenache’s many and beguiling finer points. The 2019 JHGC and McLaren Vale Show highlighted a stylistic diversity borne of terroir, season, technique and picking date, while underscoring the consistent quality which comes from the pickiest of picking by sub-region, site, even parcels or rows of fruit. It helps that largely old, deep-rooted bush vines facilitate low yields, moisture uptake, canopy aeration (protecting against disease) and dappled light (protecting against sunburn).

Save for one, my recommendations are sub-regional, most single vineyard and sandy soils predominate. Imparting soaring aromatics, fruit purity and a delicate rasp of structuring, sandpapery tannins, sand is most concentrated in Blewitt Springs, a hot-bed of new-wave Grenache. It and Clarendon are McLaren Vale’s most elevated, inland sub-regions and, with a degree of continentality (meaning cooler nights and a longer growing season), they fielded the lion’s share of my top scorers.

A touch fleshier with more clay loam, Clarendon Grenache has deliciously juicy, buoyant fruit. Elsewhere, Shiraz generally holds greater sway, but my recommendations encompass the Beautiful View, McLaren Sand Hills and McLaren Flat sub-regions. The latter’s alluvial soils produced two particularly silky recommendations; wines from sandstone and loam seemed earthier, whilst ironstone imparted a mineral, bloody tang.

Unusually cool and higher yielding, 2017 produced lighter wines than 2018, but picking decisions impact significantly on fruit spectrum and body too. Ochota Barrels’ tightly-wound, pared-back 2018 Grenache reflects the Adelaide Hills-based producer’s earlier picking regime, while red fruits ranging from crunchy pomegranate and cranberry to red cherry and berry typify Burgundian styles of new wave Grenache, riper, dark-fruited, more savoury examples (for example Paralian and Longbright) are Rhône-like. The fullest-bodied recommendation (Bekkers) is the only multi-sub-regional example. Showcasing the art of blending, this exceptionally balanced, ultra-premium example will reward cellaring. Still bright-fruited, with tertiary minerality and savouriness, d’Arenberg’s 2010 highlights top McLaren Vale Grenache’s age-worthiness.

Naturally fragrant, with vivid fruit (accentuated by whole berry ferments), fine, immersive tannins and, observes Aphelion’s Rob Mack ‘more savoury, spicy, meaty and earthy characters’ with whole bunch ferments and extended maceration, there is no need to gild Grenache’s lily. Most mature for a year or less in used oak, often large format and/or concrete or stainless steel, maintaining perfume, fruit and freshness.

For Gleave, whose unoaked Clarendon and Blewitt Springs Grenaches come from top notch vineyards. ‘We need to tell the story about freshness and detail – that Grenache is not a big, porty, dry red anymore,’ he says. Look no further than my recommendations to uncover this ‘secret weapon’ – McLaren Vale Grenache is enjoying a new, distinguished chapter.

Sarah Ahmed’s Top 20 McLaren Vale Grenaches