Thistledown The Vagabond McLaren Vale Old Vine Grenache 2022
96 POINTS: Halliday Wine Companion
94 POINTS: Wine Front
93 POINTS: The Real Review
92 POINTS: Wine Advocate
Sourced from three remarkable sites in the famed Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale, this wine possesses a beautifully complex, aromatic nose of violets, wild cherry, rosemary and warming spice. The palate is energetic yet polished and smooth with vibrant cherry, spice, wild strawberry and liquorice on the palate. Medium bodied but multi-layered and textural with a very long, aromatic finish.
"Blewitt Springs, an Australian grand cru equivalent. Old bush vines, as is the wont. Wild fermented with a good portion of whole bunches, some in concrete pyramids sans agitation, before ageing in concrete and large neutral oak. Brilliant! Like a slinky, before release over the top step, as riffs on persimmon, Seville orange, rosehip, pomegranate and impeccably ripe cherry clafoutis unwind and expand with a rattle. Long. A sandy scape of gorgeous tannins. World class."
- James Halliday
"Cherry, strawberry, mint and menthol, orange peel. It’s medium-bodied, a juicy red fruit flavour strewn with herbs and spice, supple tannin, and a juicy red fruited finish of fine length and spicy perfume."
- Wine Front
"You can rely on Thistledown for great Grenache. It's their thing. Here, the 2022 The Vagabond Old Vine Grenache leads with a vibrant display of red berries, exotic spices and black olive tapenade in merengue lockstep. There are also notes of poached strawberries, redcurrants, red apple skins and salted licorice. This is a lovely wine. It feels lighter than I remember the 2021 being. It is delicate. I love the bloody tannins, open-weave and chewy. The tannins are the highlight."
- Wine Advocate
ABV: 14.5%