1837 Bloodline Grenache
It starts with a Black Sheep.
Over 185 years ago Hugh’s great great grandfather Richard Hamilton was an honourable tailor on the high streets of Dover but by the light of the moon, Richard was smuggling contraband Bordeaux across the English Channel.
Richard, his wife Ann and eight of their children left England in 1837 for the emerging colony of South Australia.
When they arrived Richard noticed something was missing in the colony, wine! He sent an SOS to friends in South Africa who sent out grape vine cuttings dipped in wax to preserve their freshness. Richard Hamilton was the first person to plant vines in South Australia, unwittingly starting an industry South Australia is now world famous for.
His first three varietals Grenache, Shiraz and Pedro Ximenez.
Winemaker's Notes
The Grenache is sourced from the south west of the region. Aromatically it is intense in the way that only Grenache in McLaren Vale can be, but the key factor that makes this vineyard perfect for the Bloodline series is the amazing structural depth that it manages to achieve. There is an amazing duality in that it is fresh and perfumed and alive but that there is also such amazing depth and length to the palate. In part the perfume is the result of the 30% wholebunch fruit included in the ferment but there is a very defined varietal lift that insists the wholebunch character is far from the whole story. The tremendous fruit character is carefully held in check by the assertive palate structure. As much as I would like to believe that the balance in this wine is the work of winemaking it is far more accurate to credit the vineyard for just doing what it does best.
Bouquet & Palate
Rasberries, fine leather, tobacco, and ink. The bright red fruit is impeccably balanced against teasing and complex herbal characters. Fruit is generously ripe without being overbearing or cloying. The tannin line is critical to rounding out this wine and is exceptionally fine and graphitey.
Food Match
An amazingly versatile wine it may help bridge the gap when people order different dishes. Matches as well with Coq au Vin as with Chinese BBQ pork.
Technical Details
- Type: Red
- Varietal: Grenache
- Region: South Australia
- Appellation: McLaren Vale
- Vintage: 2016