Introducing the Clarendon Hills 2023 Vintage Old Vine Grenache Collection
2025 brings about one of the best and strongest set of new releases Clarendon Hills has had in its 36 vintages to date. The 2023 Old Vine Grenache Collection is exceptional and out of this world and has yielded wines of uncanny exotic qualities with ethereal floral perfumes and mineral complexity that bear few parallels to any other vintage release in the Clarendon Hills cellar. The wines are absolutely superlative and simply stunning in every way and offer both immense immediate satisfaction and enjoyment but also represent fantastic long term propositions for the cellar. All the hallmarks and accents of a truly outstanding and exceptional vintage.
The relentlessly wet winter of 2022 continued into a wet and warm and unusually humid spring time. The warm and humid conditions encouraged incredible canopy growth, delayed fruit set and also introduced rare disease pressure in the vineyards. Our proactive strategy of spraying the vineyards was extremely effective and despite the near perfect conditions for mildew we successfully avoided all incidence in the vineyards via a holistic but highly effective approach to prevention. Our viti team uses naturally occurring copper sulphate and water to create a non-chemical spray and is technically an ‘organic’ technique employed to prevent disease pressure – as the viticulture team says, “once it’s there it’s too late”. Our proactive spray strategy utilises naturally occurring Copper Sulphate and is a holistic approach that avoids using harsh chemicals in our precious ancient vineyard terroirs.
The springtime conditions in fact extended across December and into early January. Unusually mild, low 20 degree Summer weather cleared out any humidity and paved the way for zero 40 degree Celsius days recorded across the entire Summer. The conditions delayed the onset of veraison, the grapes colouring process, as a result, and we still had green uncoloured berries on the bunches as March and Autumn arrived. The outlook on the weather for the entire month of March was a carbon copy of itself, every day. Perfectly sunny and dry yet coolish 19, 20 and 21 degree C weather ensued. The unchanging mild weather forecast, coupled with very cool overnight temperatures, ultimately defined the late and unusual ripening season. Eventual full maturity came approximately 3-4 weeks later than the previous La Nina 2021 and 2022 vintages and picking extended into April. The later and cooler ripening period ultimately preserved all of the grape acids and rendered the fruit uniquely composed with high natural acid and optimal phenolic ripeness levels. The extended hang time on the vines and the slow ripening season without heat spikes would achieve grapes with unparalleled phenolic ripeness levels.
The grapes tasted amazing on the vine prior to harvest and we knew we had something pretty special before we even started the 2023 harvest. The combination of the late fruit set, late veraison and subsequent later than usual ripeness horizon delivered grapes with extremely high tartaric and malic acid levels. The overall slow and late ripening conditions forged grapes with ‘one might argue’ perfect phenolic ripeness that explains the incredible and unique fruit expression of the 2023’s. The 2023 wines have been utterly captivating to make and each cuvee has remarkable floral and mineral aromas with a unique sense of place and an exhibition of finesse and purity of variety expression that rivals the greatest vintages to date at Clarendon Hills.
Throughout the entire production process: from grape sampling, to grapes arriving at the winery, to the crusher, to the tank, to the press, to the barrel; the 2023 wines have demonstrated a very special extra layer and dimension and sparked countless conversations and impromptu tasting congregations by the winemaking team. The extraordinary floral components and perfectly portrayed fruit core give these wines an uncanny precociousness to them. The wines have always demonstrated a wonderful signature floral and spice trace throughout the collection. The Grenache have always been so high pitched with deep fruit cores of strawberry and blueberry, but it’s their lifted and wafting rose petal and violet perfumes that really grab your attention.
Insights on the wines
2023 Domaine Clarendon Old Vine Grenache
The Domaine Clarendon Old Vine Grenache is superlative and offers amazing value for money at its price point. Lifted strawberry and Turkish Delight perfume over a medium bodied, sleek and light palate that has layers of depth and length to boot. Succulence in every sip. It’s the perfect mid-week quaffer or weekend reward with all of those forest berries on offer. Lifted red fruits dance with roses and a touch of musk and maraschino cherry on the nose. It’s light and playful and juicy and well worth your consideration.
2023 Blewitt Springs Old Vine Grenache
The phenomenal Clarendon Hills Blewitt Springs Old Vine Grenache has undergone a recent makeover with a beautiful musk purple colour addition to the label. While the packaging is different, so too, what’s inside the bottle has undergone a refinement. In an effort to strive to make better wine, we’ve been isolating the individual parcels and reviewing everything across its time in barrel and ultimately came to the conclusion that a particular section in the vineyard was the best and would elevate the overall standard of the wine if kept separate. Therefore now all other parts of the vineyard are separated and declassified for Domaine Clarendon Grenache. The result is less Blewitt Springs Old Vine Grenache but it would now be at the level of Onkaparinga and Romas Grenache. This is easily the best ever Blewitt Springs Old Vine Grenache we’ve ever released. The combination of the stricter selection and the exceptional 2023 vintage has relegated the new releases out of the stratosphere. Lifted cherry and Turkish delight, musk and women’s cosmetic aromas take this year’s expression to the next level.
2023 Onkaparinga Old Vine Grenache
The 2023 Onkaparinga Old Vine Grenache hails from an old bush vine site with densely compacted terroir that concentrates the fruit here and highlights a truly exotic Blewitt Springs perfume. Think blueberries, violets and lavender with Turkish delight, musk and potpourri essence. The high density of the rocks in this terroir forces the vines to reduce their vine height and also their yield and the result is incredibly detailed and multi layered wines. The uber quality of the Onkaparinga vineyard is home to two of our best wines in the cellar every year, the Onkaparinga Old Vine Grenache and also the Onkaparinga Syrah. I highly recommend experiencing the Onkaparinga Old Vine Grenache.
2023 Romas Old Vine Grenache
The 2023 Romas Old Vine Grenache is a future legend in the making. The extended ripening period that ran deep into its Autumn developed unprecedented phenolic ripeness levels that have correlated with its best ever performance. Picked at a perfect 13.5 Beaume with perfectly preserved acids and coupled with the perfect phenolic ripeness, the wines have been ready to enjoy from the moment they were pressed. The 105-year-old vines here produce the thickest skinned Grenache we receive. The longer, cooler ripening season yielded phenolic ripeness levels that are virtually unparalleled in any vintage at Clarendon Hills. The very late and cool and dry 2002 vintage springs to mind, such is the rarity of the harvest condition. I have seen a lot of young Grenache in barrel in my time and in my opinion, honestly, this is the best ever Grenache we have made to date. The precision and purity of the fruit is only surpassed by its scale and infinite nuances of rose. This release is really one for the collectors, being a low production year of extremely high quality wines, you can enjoy them now but they will keep forever and only get better.
Join us in celebration of these amazing releases. The 2023 vintage is a dream come true for Grenache lovers. You will not be disappointed with how well these Grenaches are drinking.
Alex Bratasiuk