Biodynamic. The Oratoire vineyards are located on steep hills in two climats of Cairanne: Saint-Martin and Les Douyes. This is a blend of 60-plus-year-old vines from both terroirs, mainly from the yellow clay and limestone of Saint-Martin, supplemented with a bit of fruit from their limestone-rich Les Douyes vineyard. The yields can dip as low as 20 hl/ha depending on the vintage.

A blend of Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah, plus a sprinkling of whole-bunch Carignan and Counoise, all the harvest is fermented with indigenous yeast in concrete vats; split between concrete and large-format oak, the wine is matured for 12 months and bottled without fining or filtration. Only a touch of sulphur is used at bottling. The high proportion of Grenache (60%) really sings this year in a velvety, chalky, inky and long release that draws comparison with the finest vintages we have shipped. 

This year’s blend is 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, 7% Syrah and 3% Cinsault. Marcoux’s Châteauneuf is drawn from 13 parcels of vines, biodynamically farmed and dotted across the appellation. With a concentration on the famous Crau plateau, the parcels encompass a wide range of soil types, from the sandy soils of Charbonnières to the red clay and galets in L’Arnesque and Les Bosquets, to the limestone and white clay in Les Esqueirons and Beaurenard, and finally the red clay and gravels of Les Galimardes, Les Serres and Les Plagnes in the south. This means Marcoux can produce a wine that genuinely reflects the Châteauneuf terroir as a whole. It also allows the domaine to craft balanced wines year in, year out, as each parcel is vinified separately before blending (and any parcels that do not fit the bill are typically declassified to Côtes du Rhône or sold to the négoces).

As is customary, the wines were naturally fermented and raised in concrete vat (up to 90%) and large oak, without any new oak. The aging spanned 18 months, and the wine was bottled unfiltered. After a run of broader-shouldered wines, this year’s release tastes positively airborne! The shape, sculpted by finely woven tannins and refreshing tension, is impeccable, and the finish pure and focused. “It's a nice vintage, very different from past years, but good. I like the tannins—you can drink the wine young and enjoy it later,” says Vincent Estevenin. In short, it’s a long, intense and classy offering from one of the region’s great artisans.

This year’s blend is 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, 7% Syrah and 3% Cinsault. Marcoux’s Châteauneuf is drawn from 13 parcels of vines, biodynamically farmed and dotted across the appellation. With a concentration on the famous Crau plateau, the parcels encompass a wide range of soil types, from the sandy soils of Charbonnières to the red clay and galets in L’Arnesque and Les Bosquets, to the limestone and white clay in Les Esqueirons and Beaurenard, and finally the red clay and gravels of Les Galimardes, Les Serres and Les Plagnes in the south. This means Marcoux can produce a wine that genuinely reflects the Châteauneuf terroir as a whole. It also allows the domaine to craft balanced wines year in, year out, as each parcel is vinified separately before blending (and any parcels that do not fit the bill are typically declassified to Côtes du Rhône or sold to the négoces).

As is customary, the wines were naturally fermented and raised in concrete vat (up to 90%) and large oak, without any new oak. The aging spanned 18 months, and the wine was bottled unfiltered. After a run of broader-shouldered wines, this year’s release tastes positively airborne! The shape, sculpted by finely woven tannins and refreshing tension, is impeccable, and the finish pure and focused. “It's a nice vintage, very different from past years, but good. I like the tannins—you can drink the wine young and enjoy it later,” says Vincent Estevenin. In short, it’s a long, intense and classy offering from one of the region’s great artisans.

Prizing finesse over concentration, Serbian-born vigneron Tatjana Peceric has a beautiful touch with Montsant’s high-grown Garnacha and Cariñena. Except for the skin-contact white Brisat, the wines are fermented as whole bunches in concrete, amphorae and stainless steel (no oak is used), and extraction is as gentle as possible. In the cellar, Peceric works with the infusion model—a buzzy term for sure, yet we should not forget that this kind of no-bells-and-whistles winemaking is scarce in this corner of Europe. In short, the grapes are gently crushed by foot and taken off their skins at between eight and 12 days to continue fermentation. “We don’t need to extract tannin,” says Peceric.

Another key to the style and quality here is that regulations allow for harvesting early for lower alcohol; minimum levels here are 12.5% for reds and 11.5% for whites (compared to 13.5% for reds and 13% for whites in the DOQ Priorat). This year’s Negre is a pure Garnacha, from mature vines sited around Capçanes. The 25-year-old (on average) bush vines sit at 350 metres on the mixed sandy clay soils (known locally as panal) with varied exposures. 

Cayuse farms 31 hectares of vines across 14 sites on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley AVA. Fruit for God Only Knows Grenache hails from the Armada vineyard, located in the ancient riverbed of the Walla Walla River and also home to the Cayuse wine studio. Like the 14 other Cayuse vineyards, Armada is covered in large stones reminiscent of the great vineyards of the southern Rhône. Just 12-18 inches of silty loam and basalt cobblestones lie above a layer of compacted cobblestones, which can plunge as deep as 100 metres in some pockets. Yields are small, rarely exceeding 30 hl/ha, and the site is farmed to organic and biodynamic principles. Planted in 2001 to 4,485 vines per hectare, this 2.5-hectare site was the most densely planted vineyard in the valley until 2008.

Having the vineyards and the winery in such proximity has its advantages, especially for a team that makes picking decisions based on taste rather than tests. The handpicked fruit arrives at the winery, is crushed and ferments naturally with 75% whole clusters in concrete. The wine then matures for 21 months in large, old French foudres.

Matt Swinney’s affection for the Southern Rhône and Priorat led him to plant bush-vine Grenache on Swinney’s ironstone hilltops in the 1990s. Grenache was hardly known in the area at the time, and there were many raised eyebrows in the region when the news got out. Matt’s hunch has since proved correct, and Swinney is now setting a new standard for Australian Grenache.

The 2023 Swinney Grenache was picked by hand from the well-established, dry-grown bush vines on the Wilsons Pool vineyard’s rich gravel/loam soils. Each vine was passed over multiple times to harvest perfect fruit. The bunches were destemmed and sorted berry by berry. Fermentation occurred with 20% bunches―bolstering the structural frame to balance the intensely aromatic, flavourful fruit―in a combination of small wooden fermenters and stainless-steel tanks. The wine spent two weeks on skins before being pressed to large (3600-litre), seasoned French wood for 11 months’ maturation. Swinney’s signature combination of dense flavour core―from the dry-grown bush vines―and lucid red and blue fruit freshness is writ large over the 2023. It has spice, sinew and a very moreish close with energising freshness to its distinctly chalky tannins.

This is the inaugural release of the Sol Solice Grenache—and what a start! This wine will represent the finest Spinifex Grenache of a given vintage. In 2022 the fruit was sourced from two vineyards: the Rostein Vineyard in the Eden Valley (64%); and a vineyard in Light Pass in the heart of the Barossa Valley. Both vineyards are managed organically by Pete and Magali. The three hectares of Grenache in the Rostein Vineyard were planted in 2018, and according to Pete, at 490 metres above sea level, it’s the highest altitude Grenache block in South Australia. The Light Pass site is a dry-grown vineyard with 60-year-old vines.

Vinification was similar with both blocks. Fruit was hand-picked, fully destemmed and naturally fermented in stainless steel and old wood. Fermentation lasted eight days with minimal pump-overs. After pressing, the wine matured in seasoned puncheons and demi-muids for 10 months before it was bottled without fining or filtration. 

A sign of things to come, this first release is pure magic. It’s knee-deep in scents of berries, florals, earth and spice, while the palate is intensely flavoured, with ample texture, refreshing tannin and brightness all striking a flawless balance. Finishing with a beautifully long, tapered and perfumed close, this refined and layered Grenache over-delivers in every department. Southern Rhône, eat your heart out.

Sue Trott’s Wilpena vineyard lies in the heart of Blewitt Springs. The vines were planted in 1952 and are dry-grown on deep sand. It faces steeply east—an uncommon aspect in McLaren Vale—and so misses out on much of the warm late-afternoon sun. Of this site, Andre Bondar gushes: “Sometimes when you walk into a vineyard that is this beautiful, you can’t help but think that it must make amazing wine.”  Know that feeling, Dre.

According to Bondar, the Trott vineyard tends to a darker fruit profile than his Rayner site, alongside impressive power and structure. To this end, the parcel was split into two ferments, one with 80% bunches and the other with 10%, to aid in building fine structure and bring out the best of the site’s darker-fruited profile. Hand-bottled after 10 months in seasoned Stockinger demi-muid, it’s a shining, savoury expression that will continue to wow for years and years.