2023 Ministry of Cloud Tempranillo Grenache - Mclaren Vale SA
Hand harvested from a suite of four very old bush vine vineyards, picked over 5 separate dates and separated by 3 weeks to provide layered complexity and varying degrees of ripeness. The three neighbouring Blewitt Springs vineyards, planted in 1930, 1939, and 1940 respectively contributed 82% of the blend, with the balance coming from the oldest portion of the Smart vineyard in Clarendon planted in 1920. We love the combination of these two expressions of McLaren Vale Grenache - the spicy, fine, pinot-esque expression that hails from the rocky loams and altitude of Clarendon, and the ever so slightly darker, more structured characteristics we see from the deep white sands of Blewitt Springs. Separated into 8 separate wild ferments, hand plunged only, they varied in whole-bunch inclusion from a couple of de-stemmed whole berry ferments up to 28%, and time on skins from 3 to 6 weeks, all building necessary tannin and structure. We then basket pressed each parcel to a mixture of old oak puncheons and inert tanks.
Hand harvested from a suite of four very old bush vine vineyards, picked over 5 separate dates and separated by 3 weeks to provide layered complexity and varying degrees of ripeness. The three neighbouring Blewitt Springs vineyards, planted in 1930, 1939, and 1940 respectively contributed 82% of the blend, with the balance coming from the oldest portion of the Smart vineyard in Clarendon planted in 1920. We love the combination of these two expressions of McLaren Vale Grenache - the spicy, fine, pinot-esque expression that hails from the rocky loams and altitude of Clarendon, and the ever so slightly darker, more structured characteristics we see from the deep white sands of Blewitt Springs. Separated into 8 separate wild ferments, hand plunged only, they varied in whole-bunch inclusion from a couple of de-stemmed whole berry ferments up to 28%, and time on skins from 3 to 6 weeks, all building necessary tannin and structure. We then basket pressed each parcel to a mixture of old oak puncheons and inert tanks.
Hand harvested from a suite of four very old bush vine vineyards, picked over 5 separate dates and separated by 3 weeks to provide layered complexity and varying degrees of ripeness. The three neighbouring Blewitt Springs vineyards, planted in 1930, 1939, and 1940 respectively contributed 82% of the blend, with the balance coming from the oldest portion of the Smart vineyard in Clarendon planted in 1920. We love the combination of these two expressions of McLaren Vale Grenache - the spicy, fine, pinot-esque expression that hails from the rocky loams and altitude of Clarendon, and the ever so slightly darker, more structured characteristics we see from the deep white sands of Blewitt Springs. Separated into 8 separate wild ferments, hand plunged only, they varied in whole-bunch inclusion from a couple of de-stemmed whole berry ferments up to 28%, and time on skins from 3 to 6 weeks, all building necessary tannin and structure. We then basket pressed each parcel to a mixture of old oak puncheons and inert tanks.
