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On 23 September 2011 a global event was held that connected people all over the world to enjoy their shared love of one thing. No, it wasn’t Celebrate Bisexuality Day that I attended – though I know plenty of people who did – but a Wine Australia-sponsored Grenache Day Bloggers’ Breakfast.
“G-Day” was a belated spin-off from the June 2010 Grenache Symposium that was held in the Rhône Valley. The Symposium’s mission was “to establish itself as a united voice of Grenache wine producers and fans throughout the world… to wave the flag of this Unsung Hero of the wine world at large; and to facilitate discussion and knowledge exchange throughout the (smaller) world of Grenache wine production.”
Despite vast plantings across the world – it might be the most widely planted of all red grapes – Grenache is rarely made as a monovarietal wine. In Sardinia it is called Cannonau and made everywhere under the Cannonau di Sardegna DOC, with the best area in the central-eastern part of the island. Sella & Mosca’s dried grape / fortified Anghelu Reghu is an esoteric and delicious take on Grenache.
Supposedly the “spiritual home” of Grenache, the southern Rhône has Henri Bonneau’s raisiny and expensive Châteauneuf du Pape, which is typically 80-90% Grenache. Château Rayas is nothing but Grenache. Some Tavel and Lirac wines are largely Grenache-based.
Navarra, Priorat and Rioja in Spain have significant plantings of Grenache, as does Mendocino County in California. But McLaren Vale and the Barossa are arguably the prime sources of monovarietal, old vine Grenache bottlings. We tried six wines, three from each region.
The first two wines were fairly simple. Turkey Flat’s 2009 Barossa Valley Grenache is made from a vineyard planted in the 1920s and has the minty character that I associate with Barossa Grenache. It was supple, bright, clean and brisk. A delicious wine – even at 10am.
The 2009 Yalumba Barossa Bush Vine Grenache was even lighter in colour than the Turkey Flat, as pale as the London sky this morning. It retained a rustic edge – not something that one associates with Yalumba wines – but otherwise was as easy going as Jane Ferrari, even with 14.5% alcohol, and had a distinctive Barossan Grenache character.
There was a change of key with the third wine, like a boy band’s song moving up a tone as the dance routine gets going. Langmeil’s The Fifth Wave Barossa Grenache 2009 is twice as expensive as Turkey Flat and three times more expensive than Yalumba. The rim had an ochre-yellow tinge, which suggested oxidation from barrel ageing. There was a whiff of new wood, like a newly built hotel room, though apparently only 12% of the barrels were new. It was totally different to the first two wines, much deeper, denser and thicker-textured, with tannins like tectonic plates. The alcohol was ambitious too – 15.5%. Who would ever have guessed that one grape could be turned into such contrasting wines?
Chapel Hill’s 2008 McLaren Vale Bush Vine Grenache also had high-voltage alcohol at 15%. Like the Turkey Flat it came from a 1920’s-planted vineyard, with a small portion from a 1959 parcel. Stylistically it was somewhere between the “no guts no glory” style of the Langmeil and the less imposing wines from Turkey Flat and Yalumba, finishing boldly but smoothly.
The final two wines were a pair from d’Arenberg. The Custodian Grenache 2007 from McLaren Vale is “mid-range”, we were told. The herbal character on the finish is perhaps a calling card of McLaren Vale Grenache. Like the Yalumba it had a bucolic texture, with yeoman tannins and acidity that rippled like Chris Hemsworth’s six-pack.
The tasting concluded with d’Arenberg’s 2004 The Ironstone Pressings Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre. Although not a pure Grenache – Shiraz and Mourvedre accounted for 25% and 5% of the blend respectively ¬– it was included as a senescent example of Aussie Grenache. Amber-coloured like the setting sun off the Fleurieu Peninsula, its earthy, iodine flavours would give a good Châteauneuf a run for its money.
Although stylistically it can go from light entertainment to blockbuster, one might conclude from this tasting that Aussie Grenache is typically light-coloured, highly alcoholic, herbal / minty-smelling, not overly tannic and not a wine that ages for decades. On the basis of the more ambitious wines tasted here, ten years seems like a good lifespan.
One thing is unarguable though. Grenache with bacon butties is a great way to start the day!
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