Ministry of Clouds

2024 Ministry Of Clouds McLaren Vale Grenache - Winner, International Judge's Trophy, McLaren Vale Wine Show 2025.

Ministry of Clouds is the creation of Bernice Ong and Julian Forwood and it’s now a dozen years since they decided to leave the security of the corporate wine world (the ministry) for the adventure (the clouds) of their own wine venture. And it’s been quite a journey thus far.

From the 2012 vintage their first five releases all rated between 94 and 97 points in the Halliday Wine Companion and earned them a spot in the Top Ten New Wineries for the year. Basing themselves in McLaren Vale, they sourced red fruit from around the Vale, securing parcels from some of the most venerable and sought-after old-vine Shiraz and Grenache vineyards.

To these plots, they added Tempranillo from the Vale, Riesling from the Clare and Chardonnay first from Tasmania and now from the Adelaide Hills. And then from the 2016 vintage came a new flagship wine, Kintsugi, named for the Japanese art of ‘golden joinery’ used to resurrect ancient, broken pottery.

The big step up though occurred in that same year with their purchase of the 9 ha Chase Vineyard and its 650 million year-old Onkaparinga Rocks geology. And so their second single vineyard Shiraz was born, joining the original highly lauded Blewitt Springs interpretation.

Since then, they have set about augmenting their 6 hectares of Shiraz with their own plots of Tempranillo, Mencia, Carignan, Cinsault and Picpoul. In 2019 they processed their first vintage at their small winery at the Chase, releasing a new varietal Mencia, a new Grenache Carignan and their first bottling of Picpoul.

Which brings us to 2024 and the launch of two new Single Site Grenaches, drawing on Bernice and Julian’s experience sourcing and studying old-vine Grenache over the last decade or so. Released in tiny volume from the 2023 vintage the Silk & Stone (Clarendon) and Spice Garden (Blewitt Springs) Grenaches are both beautiful and insightful interpretations of the complex geology of McLaren Vale.

Ministry of Clouds' wines show careful attention to detail; they are wines that speak of the land and reveal the essence of the season. They are wines of flavour and texture, yet wines that show artful restraint in their delicately poised balance of ripeness and tension. They are wines that beg to be shared at a convivial table and consumed with all manner of complementary foods, flavours and textures.

With these new releases, new varieties in the ground, new concrete eggs in service and a new expanded winery, the Ministry of Clouds journey is just gathering steam.

Clare Valley Riesling
100 % hand-picked Riesling. In 2024 93 % was sourced from a red loam over limestone site on Watervale's 'golden mile'. The balance from the lean, rocky soils of the Penwortham Hills and a cooler, late-ripening site in the Sevenhill sub-region. From a range of individual picks separated by 2 weeks, each settled naturally post press, with pressings retained and transferred to oak for wild fermentation. The heart of the blend was cool fermented in stainless and aged on fine lees from 5 months. 11.5 % alc/vol.

'From a range of individual picks separated by 2 weeks, each settled naturally post press, with pressings retained and transferred to oak for wild fermentation, the heart of the blend was cool fermented in stainless and aged upon fine lees from 5 months. With high natural acids present, coupled with relatively low Baumés, each parcel exhibited beautifully delicate and fine aromas, lavender and lime leaf, lemon pith, bath salts and mineral as the bedrock. Classic Clare citrus notes are complimented by the mouth-watering chalky and mineral texture on the palate, finishing with a fine and taut acid line.' Bernice and Julian.

McLaren Vale Picpoul
Picpoul is an ancient variety of the Mediterranean Coast, farmed since the 1300s and famed for its lemony power and natural ability to retain acid in the sunshine! Briny and maritime in is disposition, Picpoul is renowned as the perfect Oyster wine. 12 % alc/vol.

‘A refreshingly zingy and aromatic wine, with lifted notes of lime, lemon myrtle, nashi pear, and white flowers. In the mouth this crisp and crunchy vibe continues with an intense fleshy verbena line, plus the minerality of limestone, brine and a subtle creaminess from the lees makes it mouthwatering!’ Bernice and Julian.

Adelaide Hills Chardonnay
A pure and tightly wound wine showing the intensity of the low yielding Birdwood and Woodside sites, and the nervy acid line synonymous with fine, late ripening, deeply cool Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay. Whole bunch pressed to a mixture of new and old barrels (32 % new) with full solids included for wild ferment. Post ferment, all barrels remained un-sulphured until the balance of natural acidity and gentle MLF complexity had been achieved, at around 30 %. Matured on fine lees for 9 months without batonnage. 12.3% alc/vol.

Without having the luxury (or limitation!) of a pre-ordained family history in wine, we relish the freedom and opportunity to cast our net a little wider from our home in McLaren Vale, hoping to capture the freshness and vibrancy of the cool Adelaide Hills… Bernice and Julian.

2024 ‘The 2024 Chardonnay is from Adelaide Hills—from three vineyards: Lofty Valley, which is cold, steep and north-facing, high up near Piccadilly Valley; two Bernard clones from a vineyard owned by one of the Hill-Smith family; and a site in Birdwood. The fruit was whole-bunch pressed, settled naturally and sent to barrel for wild ferment. The wine is preferentially not stirred, and the winemaking is straightforward but highly nuanced—the utilization of custom pie de cuves and some other levers pulled during the construction of the wines are all considered. The wine was matured for just seven months, although the following two months showed the blend in stainless tank prior to bottling. Aromatically, the wine shows nuts and pale orchard fruit, with a smooth, complex palate that flows with sophistication and persistence. It is very good. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 93 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

McLaren Vale “GG“ Gewurtztraminer Pinot Gris
This wine is led by the heady and seductive fragrance and tannin of 62% Gewürztraminer wild fermented upon its skins in an open fermenter for ten days as if it was a red wine. Balanced by cool climate Pinot Gris traditionally fermented in stainless steel for four months maturation on fine lees before bottling un-fined and un-filtered. Treasured for its exhilarating exotic floral aromas, Gewurz is widely planted in Germany, Alsace, and Northern Italy, but we love it filed nicely back with fine and crisp Pinot Gris for texture, balance, and culinary complexity. 12.5%

'A bone dry style, showing lychee, musk, and dried mandarin peel aromatics, hugely complex, and somehow drawing a line between fruit derived characters, and savoury wildness. A juicy, succulent palate, with spicy jackfruit flesh, framed by sandy and chalky tannins, brisk acid, and a long lingering palate.' Bernice and Julian.

2023 ‘GG, for gewurztraminer and gris. A savvy blend that is highly aromatic while nudging mid-weight. It is as structural as it is effusive of fruit, while finishing dry to set it up for the open-minded Asian table. A turbid onion skin hue, attesting to a week on skins for the gewurz, before time on lees in wood, conferring breath and textural intrigue. Frangipani, grape spice, lychee and cardamon pod. A gritty textural patina makes this savory overall and frankly, a guilty pleasure to relish. Drink or hold... briefly. Screw cap.’ 92 points, Ned Goodwin, JS Wine Ratings, September 2023.

McLaren Vale Mencia
Planted into the ancient rocks of our vineyard - The Chase - high on the northern boundary of McLaren Vale, Mencía revels in our thin and mean soils limiting yield and ripening early to retain bright acid. We deliberately crop thinned to reduce yield further, and hand-picked over two separate days to retain delicacy. The final blend contains 29% whole-bunch with the balance lightly de-stemmed to whole-berries, and cold soaked for 3 days to capture aromatics. Made up of four very separate treatments including a Cab-Mac parcel, whole bunch ranging from 0 to 100%, and time on skins ranging from 2-3 weeks we are hoping to build gentle complexity before basket pressing to old French oak vessels for maturation. 14.5 % alc/vol.

‘Deeply purple in colour, this wine has the lifted floral aromatics of Mencía showing sour cherry, pomegranate, and black liquorice. On the palate, the layered succulent fruit characters that Mencía is known for come to the fore, showing mid-weight blackcurrant and raspberry fruit, built upon a bedrock of mineral laced tannin.’ Bernice and Julian.

McLaren Vale Tempranillo Grenache
55 % Tempranillo, 45 % Grenache. Based upon three vineyards of Tempranillo, from cool sites in Blewitt Springs and McLaren Foothills and The Chase vineyard atop the Onkaparinga Ridge. Blended with old vine Grenache from a range of blocks up to 80 years of age. A blend of 15 separate small ferments picked over 5 weeks and ranging from zero whole bunch up to 66 %. All ferments were from indigenous yeasts with up to 6 weeks on skins. to further build tannin line. After basket pressing the wine was matured for 7 months in a mixture of concrete eggs, old French oak puncheons and foudres. 13.9 % alc/vol.

'This wine combines lifted notes of pomegranate, sarsaparilla, violets and nutmeg typical of McLaren Vale Tempranillo, with the red berried perfume and succulence of old vine Grenache. This medium bodied wine is pretty, but deeply flavoured, and deliberately moreish. A lithe and juicy wine, it errs on the blood orange, cherry, red berry spectrum on the palate supported by a long line of ferrous tannin.' Bernice and Julian.

2024 ‘The 2024 Tempranillo Grenache is juicy and bright, with a great balance between the two varieties—75% Tempranillo and 25% Grenache. It was picked over more than a month from start to finish, spent between one and seven weeks on the skins and has slightly less that 20% whole bunches in the final wine. There are notes of raspberry, field strawberry, red apple, licorice and dark chocolate. It's not hugely complex, but it is possessed of a sophisticated tannin profile that makes this wine elevated in its approach. This is very good. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 91 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

Grenache Carignan
60 % Grenache from three old bush vine Grenache vineyards, two from Blewitt Springs and the third the rocky San Remo site that adjoins The Chase Carignan vineyard, from which came the 40 % Carignan. All hand-picked and fermented in open vats, in eight separate lots. Whole bunch inclusion ranged from zero to 50 % giving a final blend of about 32 %. After 4-5 weeks on skins, the wine was matured for 7 months in a combination of French oak hogsheads, puncheons, demi-muids, foudres, and one concrete egg. 14 % alc/vol.

‘The heart of this wine is a 1940s planted bush vine Grenache block planted into a northerly slope atop the Onkaparinga Gorge, which we blend with Carignan off our own adjacent estate. Both parcels were hand harvested, fermented in traditional open vats, and gently basket pressed. An assemblage of 6 separate open ferments ranging from 2 – 6 weeks on skins, all fermented wild, and worked very gently with daily hand plunging to preserve freshness, but allowed the relatively long maceration necessary to build tannin line and mineral complexity. After basket pressing the parcels were matured in old french oak puncheons upon their gross lees for about 6 months to provide maturation but not oak flavour.’ Bernice and Julian.

2024 ‘The 2024 Grenache Carignan is composed of a 60/40 blend, the Grenache vineyard overlooks the Onkaparinga gorge to the north, and the Carignan is an estate vineyard, a three-minute walk away, facing south. The wine is spicy and light, mid-palate-located and with refreshing, mineral tannins. Structural and yet not acerbic, the tannins are a main feature of the wine without drying it out or making it too hard. There are eight small ferments in this blend, with approximately 30% whole bunches, and the fruit was left on the skins for four to five weeks in total. There are notes of star anise, blood plum and raspberry, citrus zest and even some pink peppercorn (in the way that peppercorns can be citrusy, lifted and abundantly fresh). It was matured on the gross lees in both neutral puncheons and concrete, and the wine was left unracked until blending and bottling. The barrels were topped every three weeks in order to keep the wines as fresh and untouched as possible. It has really attractive rose petals and exotic spices and is light in body, intense in flavor and long in length. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 95 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

McLaren Vale Grenache
Hand harvested from a suite of five very old bush vine vineyards, picked over 6 separate dates and separated by 3 weeks to provide layered complexity and varying degrees of ripeness. The four neighbouring Blewitt Springs vineyards, planted in 1930, 1939, 1940, and 1952 respectively contributed 49% of the blend, with the balance coming from the oldest portion of the Smart vineyard in Clarendon planted in 1922. We love the combination of these two expressions of McLaren Vale Grenache - the spicy, fine, pinot-esque expression that hails from the rocky loams and altitude of Clarendon, and the ever so slightly darker, more structured characteristics we see from the deep white sands of Blewitt Springs. Separated into 9 separate wild ferments, hand plunged and pumped over they varied in whole-bunch inclusion from a couple of de-stemmed whole berry ferments up to 100% (37% in final blend), and time on skins from 1 to 6 weeks, all building necessary tannin and structure. We then pressed each parcel to a mixture of old oak puncheons and concrete eggs. As always maturation was undertaken on fine lees to build mid palate texture and for the reductive benefit to counter Grenache’s predisposition to oxidation. With 7 months only in large old oak to allow the blend to come together and bottled young before any meaningful oak influence can be seen. 14.0 % alc/vol.

‘Showing old vine intensity without heaviness, fragrant cranberry and wild cherry fruit lift, violets, earth, and garrigue herbs: the palate is pure with calming depth and intensity, but kept necessarily fresh by grainy tannins and a bright line of natural acid.’ Bernice and Julian.

2024 ‘The 2024 Grenache is from both Blewitt Springs and a similar portion from Clarendon (the Smart vineyard). The Blewitt Springs blocks were planted in 1920, 1939, 1940 and 1952. Together, they make up just under 50% of the blend. The balance is from the Smart vineyard in Clarendon, which is very new vines, planted 2022. The wine here is both delicate and tannic. It is composed of nine different wild ferments, with varying degrees of whole bunch (37% in total in the end), a little bit of carbonic maceration and everything kept separate all the way through. This is a beautiful wine—detailed, intricate and persistent. I'll confess that McLaren Vale Grenache is one of my all-time favorite styles of wine, and the delivery of complexity and pleasure in equal measure is why. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 95 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

2024 ‘Blewitt Springs and Clarendon here. Red cherry, raspberry, almond, rosy, rosemary, spice, pear drops. Medium-bodied, red fruit, almond and spice, a fine emery grip to tannin, a certain succulence here, though it keeps itself neat, with a cool finish of excellent length. A lovely wine of style and charm.’ 95 points, Winefront.com, November 2025.

Spice Garden Single Site Grenache
100 % Grenache from a Blewitt Springs vineyard planted in 1939 (bush vines) in white sand over ironstone. Hand picked with a little whole-bunch in the ferment and kept on skins for 3 weeks with daily hand plunging and aged on gross lees for 7 months in old French oak puncheons before bottling in December 2023.

2023 ‘The 2023 Spice Garden Single Site Grenache vineyard is right in the heart of Blewitt Springs, bush vines planted in 1939 on squeaky white beach sand. Aromatiucally, the wine leads with Boscobel rose and raspberry seed, red apple skins, black cherry and star anise. The "minty" aspect of star anise leads into things like shaved fennel and a hint of tarragon. I love that about it. It's a cool offset to the red fruit. In the mouth, the tannins are silky, chewy and seamless. It provides a perfume in the mouth that helps to redefine the palate once again. It's sort of circular in that way. This wine makes you think more about it—about its flow and shape, its presence and impact. This is a beautiful wine. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink 2024-2038.’ 96 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, September 2024.

‘Perfumed, savory aromas of wild raspberries, cinnamon bark, potpourri, cured meat, iron, blueberry bush and hibiscus. The palate is seamless with a medium-bodied mouthfeel, fine-grained tannins and bright acidity. There are no hard edges with such purity and finesse. Delicious. Drink or hold. Screw cap.’ 96 points, Ryan Montgomery, JS Wine Ratings, March 2025.

2024 ‘The 2024 Spice Garden Single Site Grenache is planted on deep white sand over ironstone. The vineyard is planted north–south, across a bowl shape, with two elevated wings (this is where the fruit for this cuvée is sourced) and a bowl area in the middle. The wine is aromatically red-fruited, with raspberry florals and rose petals, star anise and graphite, layers of dried herbs and green olive tapenade. The whole bunches here—50% of the wine—show in the glass. It remains balanced, but they are a key feature of the palate. This is darker and deeper than the Silk & Stone Single Site Grenache (from Clarendon vineyard) tasted alongside, which is surprising given the reputation of Blewitt Springs Grenache for being "the lighter one," fresh and aromatic. To be clear, this is all of those things, but this is darker than the Silk & Stone. This is an excellent wine, truly. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 96 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

2024 ‘Blewitt Springs. Vineyard planted 1939. Tasted next to the Clarendon wine, and I’d guess some will like this wine more; a stylistic preference over quality I’d suggest. Blue and red fruit, Espelette pepper or Szechuan, exotic perfume, rose oil. Red fruits, strawberry and spice, a little bit strict, firm chalky tannin, light in flavour, though it has intensity, going into a ‘mineral’ thing, with a fine dusty finish of excellent length. Needs a bit of time, but gee a wonderful wine, albeit kind of idiosyncratic.’ 95+ points, Winefront.com, November 2025.

Silk & Stone Single Site Grenache
100 % Grenache from a Clarendon vineyard planted in 1922 (bush vines) in dark loam over ironstone and clay. Hand picked with a little whole-bunch in the ferment and kept on skins for 3 and a half weeks with daily hand plunging and aged on gross lees for 7 months in old French oak puncheons before bottling in December 2023.

2023 ‘The 2023 Silk & Stone Single Site Grenache is from the Smart vineyard, picked across two different picks (a week apart), and only five hundred liters was made. The vines are the 1922 plantings, the oldest part of the vineyard. This is the highest-elevation Grenache vineyard in Clarendon, right up against the Adelaide Hills. Aromatically, the wine is loaded is baking spices: cinnamon cassia, fresh grated nutmeg, distant clove and star anise, ash, incense and lavender. The soils up in Clarendon are heavier than down in Blewitt Springs, for example, yet the elevation allows for a distinct perfume. In the mouth, the wine is full of raspberry and strawberry, redcurrants and red apple skins. The tannins are of course the highlight here for me: lacy, gently gritty and profuse. It's chewy, and I like that. This is a lovely, wispy wine. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink 2024-2038.’ 95 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, September 2024.

2024 ‘Smart Vineyard. Raspberry, cherry, spice box, almond, roses, a stony thing, roast red capsicum and paprika. Medium-bodied, fine dusty and powdery texture, crushed rocks, cool acidity, succulence of red fruits, but also tight and stony. Superb finish. Such texture, but with flavour. Precise. This is a banger.’ 96 points, Winefront.com, November 2025.

2024 ‘The 2024 Silk & Stone Single Site Grenache is floral and aromatic, fine in palate weight and yet persistent both in shape and length. This is a beautiful wine, as it was last year, perhaps with a little more concentration (although no darker in color, from memory). The fruit is from both the 1922 and 1955 plantings, picked and fermented separately, five days apart. The "newer" plantings are more upright, while the 1922 planting sprawls a little more along the ground. The late Bernard Smart tended this their generation vineyard right up until the time of his death, and he was widely loved and admired for his unbending work ethic—typified by his desire to prune the vines throughout his life. This is a highly sought-after vineyard, and the fruit quality speaks for itself. Only 1,281 bottles made. The fruit spent three to four weeks on the skins post ferment, with 63% whole bunches, the matured for seven months in old French oak puncheons. This is a super wine. It was bottled filtered yet unfined. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 97 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

McLaren Vale Shiraz
We combined two separate picks from our own Onkaparinga Rocks vineyard, and three separate picks from a trio of sandy dry grown Blewitt Springs sites which were spread over more than a month. Whole-bunch inclusion ranged from 0% up to 60%, with approximately 18% whole bunches retained in the total blend, the rest gently de-stemmed to preserve whole berries for purity. Of the 18 separate ferments all were fermented wild, and either hand plunged or pumped over twice daily. Maceration on skins ranged from 8 days up to more than 30 days to build both complexity and retain freshness. After pressing, the wine was matured for 7 months in a combination of French oak hogsheads, puncheons, demi muids, and foudres. 14 % alc/vol.

'An exercise in slender power, bringing early picked McLaren Vale Shiraz characters exhibited by cool blue and red fruit with layers of coal dust and earth to entice, supported by a gentle oak creaminess, which progresses to the palate exhibiting a deep fruit weight kept bright, nervy, and fleshy and filed down nicely by a fine and mineral tannin line.' Bernice and Julian.

2024 ‘The 2024 Shiraz is sourced from the estate vineyard in Seaview in McLaren Vale. The fruit was picked over three weeks and treated as a series of small ferments and élevages. The fruit is being picked earlier and earlier in terms of ripeness, and the focus on detail and finesse is prioritized over glycerol and power. Aromatically, the wine leads with mulberry and blood orange, lavender and raspberry seed. It's really good. There was 33% whole bunches in the end, and it shows, serving the wine on the palate in the way that it emphasizes capaciousness and spice. There is some new oak (this is the cuvée that they use to season new oak, and usually the total is around 20% new), concrete and foudre, too. This is very good. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 92 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

Blewitt Springs Single Vineyard Shiraz
All fruit is sourced from a single Blewitt Springs vineyard planted in 1960. Hand picked and with 25 % whold bunches retained the balance is gently de-stemmed to whole berries. After 5 weeks on skins the wine was pressed to a combination of one new Stockinger demi-muid and older French oak puncheons for 10 months maturation. 14.4 % alc/vol.

'A surprisingly cool fruited, but dense and bright expression of Blewitt Springs Shiraz. Gently complex, with spicy blue and black berries, layers of nutmeg, violets, and a gentle creamy nuttiness from French oak. On the palate, it exhibits a finely wrought core of dark berried fruit, framed by persistent sandy tannins, and kept taut by a line of natural acidity.' Bernice and Julian.

2022 ‘The 2022 Single Vineyard Blewitt Springs Shiraz is dark, deep and aromatic, and the oak plays a role here but isn't the entire story. There are notes of blood plum and tapenade, crushed rocks and brine. This vineyard block is owned by the Patritti family and is planted on the deep white sands that Blewitt Springs is so famous for. This is a wine that unfurls both in the glass and in the memory as it fades as well, showing a cavalcade of flavor and texture. Largely in Stockinger oak, it matured for 10 months as opposed to seven and included 25% whole bunches in the ferment; it is a powerful, structural wine. The first vintage of this wine was 2012. The future of this wine is not assured, as the vineyard was sold in 2024. Whether it marks a new direction for the cuvée or a new cuvée altogether remains to be seen. 14.4% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 94 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

Onkaparinga Rocks Single Vineyard Shiraz
100 % Shiraz from The Chase Vineyard, where the terroir is characterised by a very thin veneer of grey loam, supported by a deep bedrock of sandstone, slaty siltstone and ancient rocks. Dating back 650 million years this geology is some of the oldest planted to wine grapes anywhere in the world. The fruit was destemmed but not crushed to retain 100 % whole-berries, open-fermented, plunged daily and then basket-pressed to a mix of old and new French oak puncheons for 18 months maturation. 14.5 % alc/vol.

‘A lifted but deep expression of McLaren Vale shiraz, tending towards blue and back fruits, Garrigue herbs, picked necessarily early to retain freshness, and layered in shyly supporting French Oak. Powerful on the palate, this wine is an interplay between the waves of intense crunchy plumlike fruit, and the tensile strength of the mineral and tannin laden structure beneath.’ Bernice and Julian.

2022 ‘The 2022 Single Vineyard Onkaparinga Rocks Shiraz is supple and juicy in comparison to the stern power of the Blewitt Springs Single Site Shiraz tasted alongside. This is silky and expansive, with a higher proportion of whole bunches (35% here) and picked across three separate picks. The time on the skins was five weeks, which imbued the wine with a load of natural tannin, and yet it feels both pliable and malleable in the mouth. 14.6% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 95 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.

Kintsugi
Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of ‘golden joinery’, the creation of enduring beauty from broken fragments of ancient pottery as they are pieced together with lacquer laced with gold. It befits a desire to meticulously blend only the very best parcels of old vine fruit from a single year. Kintsugi is thus the best Southern Rhone inspired wine that Bernice and Julian can create each year, no matter its components.

Aiming to make a reserve Rhone blend from the very best parcels in any given year, Kintsugi is an assemblage of only our most favourite ferments, selected for their purity, distinctive tannin line, and their potential for savoury longevity. In 2020 the heart of the wine is 62 % Grenache from three separate bush vine blocks from the austere rocks of Seaview, and the sands of both Blewitt Springs and Mclaren Flat. All were dry grown and bush vine planted with ages up to 80 years, and provide a deeply fruited aromatic core, balanced by nearly equal proportions of whole bunch Shiraz and Mataro from Blewitt Springs, and Carignan planted in our home vineyard The Chase. Ideally this wine is less about brightness of fruit, and early drinkability, and more about the structured persistence and ageabilty we so rarely see from McLaren Vale Grenache blends these days. Matured in old puncheons on fine lees, and then a year in bottle before release. Bottled un-fined but filtered.

2020 (last cases) ‘An elegant, but deeply fruited wine, showing aromatic floral red fruit lift, and spice from old vine Grenache, built upon intense blue fruits and violets of dry grown Mataro and Shiraz. Layered and long this wine exhibits a tightly wound core of dense red berried crunchy fruit, framed by persistent sandy tannins, and bright acidity.’ Bernice and Julian.

2022 (due 2026) ‘It’s 4% Shiraz, the rest Grenache from bush vines in Blewitt Springs vineyards (67%) planted in 1939 and 1952 respectively, the balance from the oldest plantings of the Smart vineyard (29%) in Clarendon planted in 1922. Blackcurrant, boysenberry, raspberry, liquorice root/mint, spice, dried flowers. Medium to full-bodied, dark cherry, a ferrous edge, ironstone and the like, impeccable length. This is dense and concentrated, a serious take on Grenache. So impressive. I’m on the cusp of 96 and 97 points here. Well, it made an impression on me, and in the words of the Cranberries ‘Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’ 97 points, Winefront.com, November 2025.

2022 ‘The 2022 Kintsugi Grenache comprises 96% Grenache from three vineyards in McLaren Vale (two in Blewitt Springs and the Smart vineyard in Clarendon), and the balance is Shiraz from the estate block—there is no Mourvèdre or Carignan this year, although the cépage changes each year. It is the best parcels put together rather than a wine made to "recipe." The wine is darker and more intense than the other Grenache wines tasted here today. Whether that is a function of the vintage (there is density in the 2022s—long hang time, very cool, great natural acid, full physiological ripeness) or the cépage this year is yet to be determined. The wine is savory and long, peppered with dark berry fruits, exotic spice and even meaty inflections. Powerful and structural, the tannins are not derived from the oak élevage, rather these are vineyard- and skin-derived and show the great capacity of this variety to be adaptable to site and treatment. This is a wonderful wine here. 14.8% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.’ 95+ points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, December 2025.