D’Arenberg The McLaren Sands Hills Grenache 2022
- 94
- $50
- Drink by: 2026-2036
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The name of the wine sounds more like somewhere one would go for family holidays back in the 1950s. It is actually a district found in the east of the McLaren Vale GI. The soil is sand over clay and its age ranges between a mere 100,000 to 2.6 million years. Production is as previously described. Beautifully perfumed with notes of black cherries, leather, raspberries, florals, bay leaves, cranberries and a hint of chocolate. Perhaps a touch more spice than we typically see in others in the series. The colour is a dark magenta. The wine is finely balanced with excellent length and a seductive texture, finishing with very fine tannins and a lingering persistence. So much to like here. Enjoy this wine over the next decade, or longer if you have the patience.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
