Bulman Gary's Vineyard Grenache 2023

Not much can be said here other than directing you to Campbell’s notes below. These wines came through Five Ways last week and absolutely blew us away. Glen’s Vineyard (Eden Valley) is so fine, so elegant, so perfumed. It absolutely fits the mould of what a ‘Grand Cru’ wine in Australia would look like, if we categorised wines in that way. Gary’s Vineyard (Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale) is a slightly (relatively) more burly rendition of Grenache, with more grainy tannin and slightly darker fruit tones. They make a great pair and will be fascinating to watch age. – Ches Cook, FWC. 

This is from a vineyard that was first planted in 1974, but to grenache in 2007. The winemaking: “9 day ferment, 71 days on skins post ferment. 178 days in a sandstone amphora.”

This wine. This wine. It didn’t have me at hello but, once I’d sat with it for a bit, I never wanted it to leave. This is an instant entrant into the top tier of Australian wine. It’s tannic. It’s meaty. It’s like a pound of chestnuts set into coal, all sweet nuts and woodsmoke, forest berries and leaves. It presents as one complete whole. If you ever wanted an argument for grenache sans oak, this is the last one you’d ever need to hear. It makes the unplugged seem definitive. It does argue its case, it presents it. Tannin-wise it’s completely unafraid of upsetting anyone; it just does what it wants, and what it wants is both ribboned and imposing. It’s superbly long but then, it’s superb throughout. Drink 2024 - 2035. 97 Pts, Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front.