SC Pannell Sunrise 99 Grenache 2022

SC Pannell Sunrise 99 Grenache 2022

Stephen’s interest in Grenache stretches back to the mid-nineties. Upon arriving in McLaren Vale, a preference for making medium bodied wine led Stephen to Grenache and the love affair began. Given the region’s warm Mediterranean climate and proximity to the ocean Grenache is ideally suited to McLaren Vale and perfectly at home with our food and lifestyle.

In 2021 the opportunity to purchase a nine-hectare Grenache vineyard planted in 1922 in the heart of Blewitt Springs including two bush vine blocks one facing the morning sun and the other warmed by the setting sun, was too good to pass up. Finally, Stephen had a home for S.C.Pannell Grenache.

Block 5, Little Branch Vineyard, Blewitt Springs, 103-year-old bush vines grown on typical Blewitt Springs sand at 140m above sea level facing East. Unirrigated, managed organically, pruned and harvested by hand.

The 99th vintage for the Sunrise block started with harvest on the 14th of March. Whole berries were gently shaken from the rachis and sent to a stainless-steel fermenter for twice daily pump overs. Gently pressed on the 29th of March and settled in tank for seven weeks before racking off gross lees and dispatch to a ten-year-old French oak vat for malolactic fermentation and maturation. Racked once and bottled on the 1st of August 2023 without fining or filtration.

"The Sunrise vineyard was planted in 1920. The 2022 Sunrise Grenache marks the first time this wine has been made and released. Steve Pannell pruned the vineyard himself prior to purchasing it in 2021. The wine here is silky and seamless, packed with tannin, flavor and perfume. "I didn't make it any differently [than the other Grenaches]; I've just let the vineyard sing," he said. And sing, it does. This is a wholly complex, complete and persistently long wine. There are notes of Boscobel rose, sweet licorice, graphite, ironstone and tobacco. What a wine. In terms of character, this combines the texture and complexity of the Smart vineyard and the ethereal spice and delicacy of the Little Branch and then raises the bar of both to a whole new level. The release of this Sunrise Grenache marks the arrival of an "off-leash Pannell"; he has been tirelessly championing premium Grenache from McLaren Vale for years in his own oeuvre of structure, shape, tannin and freshness. The acquisition of this vineyard site has given him all the permission he needed, it seems. In many ways, it feels as if all of the Grenache that Pannell has made over the decades has been leading up to this point. It was worth the wait. And there are great things to come in future releases too.

The fruit was handpicked fruit, with a 3.1 pH and 14° Baumé at picking and a 3.31 pH for the finished wine, and it came in at a total yield of 13 hectoliters per hectare. Twenty percent whole-bunch fruit was used in the ferment, and the wine was matured in one vat and one puncheon. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap." 100 Points - Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate