Beguiling + ethereal.

The companion wine to Ancient Stones, our Ancient Sands Grenache is hand harvested from rows 30 to 34 of a block planted way back in 1955. The fruit is crushed into an Italian made concrete egg, where it spends a total of 12 months on skins before the wine is finally pressed away from the marc. 

The resulting wine is hypnotic. Exotic fruit characters of persimmon, pomegranate, and tamarind harmonise with fresh bay leaves and bright tarragon. The tannin character is lean and sinewy, but never austere. There is a joy and elegance in the way this wine dances across the palate. 

Wine Notes

The extended maceration process used here keeps the skins and seeds in contact with the wine for far longer than the typical 7 to 10 days that a red wine would spend on skins. The skins and seeds of a grape are where the phenols are located; these are the molecules that give wines their colour and tannin structure. As you would expect, the longer the skins are in contact with the wine, the more tannin content in the resulting wine. Curiously, this doesn’t actually make the wines taste more tannic, as these molecules are polymerising (binding up to become larger) during this process, which actually makes the wine appear smoother, and more elegant. 

The concrete egg promotes a very slow and steady rate of oxygenation into the wine, allowing just the right amount in for the wine to develop, but not so much that the freshness of the Grenache is lost.

Vineyard

The north Maslin sands are particularly fine in the old vine Grenache block. These ancient soils are well-draining and so low in organic matter that they are basically infertile. The grapes that thrive here are special ones – small, compact bunches with highly concentrated flavour, kept protected from the harsh Australian sun by their verdant canopy. 

Food Pairing

Slow roasted eggplant grilled with miso and tamari will complement the intoxicating spice blend of this wine perfectly.

Cellaring

Drink now or watch this wine continue to evolve for 10+ years

Limited to 1200 individually numbered bottles.