I jumped the gun with my original International Grenache Day post a few weeks back, so here is another super wine on the actual Grenache Day. This Yangarra Ovitelli Grenache 2020 is right up there too.
Sourced from a block planted in 1946, the fruit is fully destemmed and spends 180 days on skins in 675L concrete eggs.
What a lovely, lucid, red fruit laden, yet structured, Grenache it is too. There is this interplay between tannic picker and glacé raspberry that is a delight, even if the tannins hit like a wall. Formidable Grenache. In fact, the only question is whether it’s a more perfect wine than the Clarendon Grenache? This wine is more intellectual, that wine nor seductive. Both are bloody great. Interestingly, I don’t see the compactness and the drying finish that marks some 2020 McLaren Vale reds.
Oh, and you want more Grenache views? Just click the Grenache tag here.
Best drinking: good now, good in five years, good in ten. I like these younger though tbh. Just go now, you won’t regret it. 18.7/20, 95/100. 14.5%, $75. Yangarra website. Would I buy it? Sure would.
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4 Comments
Hi Andrew
I am a huge fan of Yangarra – everything they make is wonderful. Their biodynamic regenerative farming practices make them even more attractive. Next week I will receive a couple of 2020 Ovitelli Grenaches as part of my regular consignment, so I’m looking forward to testing your assessment.
I recently celebrated my 70th birthday, and enjoyed some delightful wines in the process, including a 1999 Eileen Hardy Shiraz, a 2012 Wendouree Cab Sav, a Rockford’s Black Shiraz, and a 2018 Yangarra Kings Wood Shiraz. I just wanted to let you know that the red drinkers amongst us were agreed that the stand-out wine was the Yangarra Cadenzia 2010 (a GSM). It’s a shame Yangarra don’t make a GSM any more. In fact my introduction to Yangarra was through a glass of GSM I bought at the Pullman Hotel in Homebush, Sydney, about 10 years ago.
I love reading your regular unvarnished commentaries. Please keep it up. I will get off my arse and make a donation shortly.
Peter Sharpe
I loved that GSM too. Yangarra have the ‘red’ now, but it’s a fruit salad wine. Not the same.
Also, thanks for very kind words Peter – unvarnished and proudly direct is my aim.
They still make a straight GSM it looks like? Saw it at Dan’s yesterday https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_32985/yangarra-grenache-shiraz-mourverde?isFromSearch=true&isPersonalised=false
Probably not the “best” grapes per se (ie not an ovitelli/king’s word blend) but definitely looks different to the Noir
Nice. $38 at cellar door from what I can see as well.