Yangarra Estate High Sands Grenache 2024

Yangarra Estate High Sands Grenache 2024

Sourced exclusively from Block 31 (1.7 Ha). At 210m elevation, this is the highest section of the 1946 planted bush vine Grenache, which also has the deepest sandy soil. Hand-picked 8th March. For the first time, a 100% whole bunch fermentation contributes 15% to the final blend. The remainder is selectively sorted in the winery, destemmed with 50% whole berries retained. Wild yeast fermented in ceramic egg and small 1 tonne open top stainless-steel fermenters with a long and gentle maceration for a minimum of 30 days. A portion remained on skins for approximately 45 days post fermentation. No pressings are used in this wine. Matured on lees in both older, thick stave Austrian puncheon and ceramic eggs before final blending to predominantly ceramic eggs. Bottled February 2025.

'High stakes, High Sands, and high points, all over the place. A terrific run with wine/site.

Crisp in its fringes, juicy at its core, a restraint in shale and slate-like rocky minerality, dark cherry, rose hip jam, black tea and a dusting of cocoa powder. It all fits together in a sleek, compact frame and zooms off to infinity with a mouth-watering comet trail of briny freshness. It gives off a bit of a sense of darker fruit than expected, a bit of woody inflection, but seems to haul it all in very well, just a caveat in all that, not a derision. Pretty super, really.' 95+ Points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

The 2024 High Sands Grenache includes a little component of whole bunches for the first time. This component was vinified as 100% whole bunch, and this was added incrementally until the desired outcome was achieved—the total was only around 10% in the end. For me, the nose is fresher and more fragrant, the palate has more capaciousness, and the perfume translates with seamlessness and eloquence on the palate. The oak component is invisible (perhaps just a factor of the fruit character of the year, as the proportion of "new" or "how much" has not changed), and the fruit is a product of the sensational 2024 vintage. Wow. This is an important evolution in the history of this great wine, and while not all are developments that a (any) winemaker may choose, this one is both obvious and genius. This is an unbelievable wine. This is inherently McLaren Vale, which is emerging as a unique proposition in the global realm of fine Grenache. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. 99 points - Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"Increasingly, I find this a hard wine to judge, so special is its place in Australian wine... Here, I feel no need to be overly specific. Red fruits? Yes. Savoury? Yes. It’s another seamless wine, resounding echoes of place the key, and so patiently cared for, so lovingly articulated, so finely but commandingly structured, and with such a long time ahead of it." 98+ Points - Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion