Yangarra Hickinbotham Clarendon Grenache 2022

Fruit is from the Hickinbotham vineyard of brown clay loam with weathered and broken siltstone.  Berries grown from 1962 bush vines are destemmed and crushed into 1800 litre ‘cocciopesto’ egg shaped amphorae. Fermentation and gentle maceration in amphora, maturing there a total of 15 months, 5 of those on skins.  Pale purply, mid-ruby and oh so pretty in the glass. Aromatics are in abundance, with a wildness at their core.  Wine gum laced with minerality and crushed pastille, thyme and wild raspberry leaf. Blackcurrant, dried violets, oodles of fragrant spice, a little charry oak, and red fruits all jumbled in together. It’s fresh and nimble, and has the wind blowing in its hair.  Slinky loose knit tannins lend themselves to a paper-fine, chalky texture framed by mouth-watering acidity. Cranberry jelly, fresh tobacco, forest floor, compressed fruit leather, crushed pine needles and gravel, dried herbs and tomato pip.  There’s just so much going on here, and persistence is ample. A wine to sit on and ponder what life is all about.