Awards & Reviews
Vine Vale Grenache planted 1956. This wine seems to be a big step in quality. Puts me in mind of Alkina Polygon, albeit at a fraction of the price.
Strawberry, raspberry, sweet spices, almond paste, liquorice root, lots of perfume. It’s medium-bodied, a fine graphite grip to tannin, appropriate ripeness and sweetness to red fruit and cherry flavours, though it also carries a twist of amaro and subtle smoky earthiness. Acidity is crisp and cranberried, and again this fine pumice stone tannin shapes up the finish, and it goes long too, with a subtle minty perfume and orange zest to close. Luminous, finely-wrought Grenache. Outstanding.
96 Points Gary Walsh The Wine Front
Medium crimson. Raspberry, cola aromas with hints of herbgarden/ bush garrigue. Inky and smooth with fresh raspberry confit, chinotto, herbgarden favours, fine slinky tannins and well-integrated crisp acidity, Finishes crunchy/ touch grippy with aniseed notes. Attractive vinosity and flow. Drink now–2030
94+ T H E V I NTAGE J O U RNA L
Hailing from the sandy soils of Vine Vale, this delicate and expressive Grenache from Yelland & Papps is a standout. Give it time to breathe and you’ll see what I mean.
To get the best out of these 1956 planted vines, the fruit is harvested on two separate occasions to capture vibrance and structure.
Red petals and violets spill from the glass. A cascade of blueberries, red cherries and squishy raspberries are followed by a burst of freeze-dried raspberry crunch across the palate. Sheets of interest build with mandarin peel, kicks of earth, dark chocolate and ripples of spice add depth and detail. Drying out ever so slowly, fine tannins coat the mouth leading to an incredibly moreish length. It’s an absolutely delicious Grenache.
Drink to eight years.
95/100 Steve Leszczynski Qwine
This is a cracking good wine that uses fruit sourced from a 1956 planted vineyard over at Vine Vale. Follows the normal Yelland and Papps treatment in the winery with barrel pressing and then a mixture of new and neutral French oak punctions. It’s all aimed to achieve excellent fruit intensity and balance with the seamless integration of fruit and oak, and fine, silky tannins combining beautifully to present an excellent wine. There’s a slightly gravelly, grainy, textural feel with a fine earthiness complemented with a lifted floral rose petal note. It’s a super wine in the medium term.
95 Wine Pilot Ray Jordan
This Grenache is an utter delight. Aromas of summer berry fruits, strawberries, raspberries, with hints of cherry, orange rind and liquorice, dried herbs and savory spices. The palate shows wonderful freshness, balance, and symmetry with perfectly ripe berry fruits, delicate spices, dusty tannins, and crisp, almost crunchy acidity. Flavours linger long. It’s an excellent Grenaceh that’s well worth seeking out.
95/100 The Cellar Post Edward Ag
Old vine Grenache meets attention to detail and the result is total mouth-filling pleasure. Potent scents of maraschino cherry, plum, earth, cacao, anise, violet aromatics and orange peel. Full of upfront appeal and lively to boot, it delivers a palate concentrated in red fruits and spices, stamped and held together by discreet vanillin oak and super fine tannins. A clipped herbal edge drives the dry finish.
92 Wine Pilot Jeni Port
From a vineyard planted in 1956 in Vine Vale. Some heady black fruit here, punctured with pops of pomegranate pulp. Damson plum, concord grape skin and rosemary stem. The whole bunch shows up in the brittle thistle and angular winter greens that compliments the string of fine tannins, building upon the fruit. A thinker’s Grenache and built for the long haul as well as on release. If you are opening this today go for blackened peppers, chorizo and green olive pasta. Or pop it aside for another 3-5 years further.
93 points Wine Pilot Shanteh Wale
