Yangarra Ovitelli Grenache 2023

From original '46 vines next to the High Sands block. The '23 grenache wines are very pale in the glass, and they are all a degree lighter in alcohol due to the cool year (one I love). A vintage like this really illustrates the kinship with the avant-garde grenache of Gredos, and with Barbaresco, and refined Etna Rosso (Girolamo Russo in particular), rather than almost anything from the Rhône. Savoury, dried red fruits, cranberry, cherry and redcurrant, warm terracotta, bergamot, potpourri, sumac, ground cinnamon, star anise, so tightly coiled, but also tensile, finely expansive in its flavour delivery. There’s tension aplenty, and it promises to unfurl over a long life. Superb.

Pale in appearance. The nose gives lifted aromas of wild strawberries, raspberries, sweet spices and orange peel. The palate is medium-bodied with finely integrated tannins and bright acidity, giving notes of dark cherries, dried herbs and cocoa. Exceptionally lifted and fresh. Drink or hold.

Bright ruby and purple in the glass. Raspberry, crushed terracotta and dried woody herb aromatics. Palate sings with fresh, just-picked raspberry fruits, as that sweet core evolves, we see dusty earth, anise and dried rosemary notes build along the line. Tannins are powerful with a fine-grained texture, driving the length and ensuring it builds power right to the finish.

Two immediate things. The colour, and the alcohol. This is a pale grenache, and at 13.5% it’s relatively low alcohol – every previous release of Yangarra Ovitelli Grenache has been listed at 14.5% alcohol save for the 2017, which was also listed at 13.5%, and the 2019, which was 14%. We’re clearly in lighter, lacier territory here, and with it comes fragrance, finely stitched tannin, exotic herb notes and exquisitely pure, red berried, floral-infused fruit. This is a red wine from South Australia with a delicate air to it. It’s wine as a delicacy. It has lilt, lift, life and length. It’s a wine for large-bowled glassware. It’s a wine that you both want to sit back and admire, and guzzle. In short, it’s a wine of the best kind.