Oliver’s Taranga Grenache 2020
- 95
- $32
- Drink by: 2021-2028
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Grenache is the flavour of the month at the moment – check out the prices paid for a tonne of good McLaren Vale Grenache compared with what the usual suspects such as Shiraz are attracting and you’ll be stunned. Nowhere in this wide, brown land does Grenache quite as well as McLaren Vale (in fairness, there are plenty of stunning examples from the Barossa, and other regions, but leave that debate for another day). Their story? ‘The year we installed solar panels and Don got addicted to the phone ap!”. Life is just one long walk on the wild side for these guys.
The wine spent a year on lees, half in old French oak hogsheads and the other half in stainless steel, in the quest for freshness. And fresh it is. The colour is a lovely pale crimson. The aromas weave and entwine around a core of beautiful red fruit notes, strawberries and red cherries especially. Leather, spices, warm earth and more fill out the flavour range. After the lifted aromatics, there is a seamless and supple palate, good acidity and a very long finish. It does have the slightly grainy tannins so often so typical of this variety. A superb Grenache which can be enjoyed now but will age for many years. The team at Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards suggest a good pizza to accompany the wine, which is fine, but I think it deserves something better. Game, perhaps?
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.
