A Game of Grenache Royale, Anyone?
After another cold front forced me to go out to get more firewood, I realised that my “Grenachy Winter” is under serious threat already. It’s been a pretty darn cold winter here in Melbourne thus far. Not 100% ideal for this style of wine, yet I still believe in the long-term predictions of our weatherpeople.
I made a quick stop at my local Liquorland to see if there was anything I could grab off the shelf to enjoy on a gloomy winter’s eve and found myself staring at an elegantly packaged Winton Road Grenache. I’m a sucker for nicely packaged things AND this majestic-looking wine was on sale…
✅ Elegantly packaged
✅ From $40 down to $20
✅ Grenache
✅ Sticking to my “Grenachy Winter” Plan
Hidden inside a royal blue cardboard box with gold twirls and scribbles I found treasure. It could work as an oh-crap-I-forgot-to-buy-you-a-gift gift, but this one was mine. As with most Rhone varietals, Grenache is gracefully squirted into a Burgundy bottle (the fat-arsed bottle). Winton Road decided to bottle theirs in a Bordeaux bottle (the lean bottle) for even more fanciness.
Tasting
On the nose, there’s an immediate aroma of boysenberries and red cherries. But there’s a warm, inviting promise on the nose as well. A little bit of mocha. A little bit of vanilla.
The palate continues to give you a steady flow of mocha together with red fruit and blackcurrants. Matured in older French and American oak barrels, and possibly a bit of play with oak staves, I find this wine urges you to quaff many goblets of it. It’s an extremely likeable wine despite a shortish finish. The powdery tannin, however, gives it texture and the potential to age a bit.
Red cherries, boysenberries, blackcurrants, mocha and vanilla.
Winton Road Wines get their Grenache from the Barossa Valley where one can find seriously old vineyards of this specific varietal. The aged vineyard intensity shows in the wine as well. It’s a great buy if you can find it on special at your local Liquorland Store.
2021 Vintage was rather late in the Barossa. A cool end to 2020 led to mild, dry ripening conditions building up to harvest. Low yields led to good varietal expression. It played right into the hands of Grenache and gave it a stylish gracefulness.
The Barossa Valley has a Mediterranean climate. It is characterised by gentle rolling hills that hold some of the oldest vineyards in the world. It’s about an hour’s drive north-east of Adelaide.
