Thistledown Wine Company, McLaren Vale (South Australia) Grenache 2022

 Thilstledown’s old vine, Seaview Vineyard Grenache is incredible.  Lighter in body with a full whip of flavors.  While there is a lot going on in the glass, a preview of flavors would include acai berry, tart pomegranate, wet river stone minerality, and a subtle sweet red licorice.  Australia’s geographic isolation helped it avoid much of phylloxera’s devastation, making Australian old vines exceptionally old.  Today, most of South Australia remains phylloxera free thanks to strict laws to protect the louse’s spread.  The result is that these old Grenache vines are still making excellent, complex fruit year after year.  I recommend serving this wine at cellar temperature.  If you don’t have a wine fridge, just put it in any fridge 40 minutes before you want to open the wine for a similar effect.