Thistledown Fool on the Hill Eden Valley Barossa Grenache 2022
96 POINTS: Wine Advocate
95 POINTS: Vinous.com
93 POINTS: James Suckling
93 POINTS: Halliday Wine Companion
"The fruit for this 2022 Fool on the Hill Grenache hails from the Mattschoss vineyard in Eden Valley, and the wine veritably explodes with crushed rocks, black earth, clove and dried star anise, raspberry leaf tea and dehydrated orange peel. This comes alive in the mouth, where it is savory but spicy, totally New World and a little bit febrile, all the while pushing this forge of raspberry-inflected flavor across the tongue and through to the finish. This is a ripping wine, left of center, super, precise, a bit gritty, awesome. it is really contained in its shape."
- Wine Advocate
"A charming and ethereal Grenache, offers subtle and cerebral aromas of fresh cherry, earthy spices and potpourri. This is a sophisticated and savory wine, with a strong stalky component yet it’s well balanced before a refined and sophisticated finish. This is a benchmark Grenache."
- Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com
"Seldom does grenache from Barossa or Eden Valley equal that of the Vale. This is good, but darker of exposure than the luminosity of expressions closer to the coast. But it is still grenache, the finest red cultivar for the majority of Australian conditions by a country mile. Transcendental moments are inevitable, thus. Brambly forest berries, mint, amaro and anise. A swathe of eucalyptus dries the tannins, but there is plenty of push to the extract and underlying freshness for poise and drinkability"
- Halliday Wine Companion
.The signature Thistledown lifted aromatics are present but the palate offers more sinew and spice than those from McLaren Vale. Textural, almost chewy but polished dark cherry, mineral and warm spices carry through to a finish of incredible length.
ABV: 14.5%