Ulithorne ‘Dona’ McLaren Vale GSM 2019
- 90
- $30
- Drink by: 2021 - 2023
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Sourced from a single vineyard in the Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale, where the soil is ‘sand over clay’. The team made the decision to crush the Shiraz, but the Grenache was included as whole bunches. The split is 35% Grenache, 33% Shiraz and 32% Mourvèdre. The juice spent 12 days on skins, before pressing directly to American and French barrels and hogsheads, and then a further twelve months barrel maturation.
Deep red, there are notes of strawberries and other red fruits. There is a lovely creamy coffee character to all this. Attractive florals. A mid-weight style, which is carried by some fresh underlying acidity, this seems to be very much Grenache-dominant at the moment. Time might see the other grapes contribute as well. A lighter, fresher style of GSM, which is delicious. Good value.
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.
