Description
Peter Schell and his French born wife Magali Gely started Spinifex back in 2001 – in a short time they have made a name for themselves as producers of fine elegant and sophisticated Barossa red blends. Peter hails from NZ originally but he and Magali are firm Barossaphiles with a great love of the ancient Barossa soils (100 million years old whereas in Bordeaux the soils date back to the last iceage 40,000-100,000 years) and the old vines. Inspired by time spent working many vintages in the south of France their love is the local varieties there – Mataro, Grenache, Shiraz and Cinsault. What sets them apart is their attention to detail and total hands on winemaking.
They are not interested in making blockbuster wines – they seek finesse and complexity (aromatics, line and length) in their wines…Sourcing small parcels of fruit from small family growers and their use of multiple small fermentation tanks allows them to ferment small parcels separately rather than pooling them – a very French technique – which means more ingredients to play with and absolute precision for blending.
‘Pete and his partner Magali Gely operate what I think is the best new-wave of small-scale Barossa wine companies to emerge at the beginning of the 21st century… These weren’t big, blockbuster, showy wines designed to impress. They were wines that managed to take the best of the Barossa’s sometimes forgotten varietal traditions and fuse them onto a very European flavour sensibility.‘ Max Allen, The future makers.
‘It seems that Spinifex wines can do no wrong.’ Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
Celebrating the legacy of Barossa Valley Grenache, Pete Schell sources this wine from four dry-grown, old-vine parcels in the Barossa Valley with vine ages ranging from 35-100 years old. All four of the sites are dry-grown and manually harvested.
The winemaking was very much in the traditional Spinifex mould: slow, natural fermentations with gentle pump-overs and foot-stomping. With a focus on freshness and drinkability allied to a supple core of Barossan generosity and depth of flavour, the 2023 Garçon was crafted with a heathy pinch of whole bunches, and fermentations took place in stainless steel and concrete. Maturation took place on light lees in a selection of vessels including steel vats, seasoned, thick-staved 600-litre demi-muids, with an additional stint in 2,500 litre foudre. Bottled unfined and without filtration, eight months after harvest.
It pours into the glass a gorgeous garnet red and tastes as good as it looks. Evocatively aromatic, crushed raspberries, cherry spice and rose petal waft out of the glass and lead to a delicious, vibrantly fruited palate. Plum skin acids and fine sandy tannins drive the finish. How it is possible to produce a wine of this class, at this price, from vines of this age is beyond us… Pete?
Reviews for 2022 – 95 points, Dave Brooks, Halliday Wine Companion “Grenache sourced from the Barossa’s west (Moppa), north (Ebenezer) and east (Bethany). I really like this nimble, beautifully detailed little grenache. It’s packed with ripe raspberry, red apple, redcurrant and cranberry fruit tones with exotic spice, gingerbread, earth, red plum and rose petals. Light, airy and sapid with a glorious, saliva-inducing sour cherry acid line and an effortless drinkability.”
93 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front “Some people love a bit of reduction in their reds; other don’t. I’m in the former camp, and this wine plays that angle beautifully. Raspberries and rust, throws of dry spice, twiggy herb notes, licorice and that smoky, earthen, slightly burnt reductive character. The flavours come both tense and sheeted; it’s a light-ish wine of juicy, taut finesse. Pricing is spot on. This is deliciously good. Personally, in an ideal world, I’d be up to my neck in this.”
RRP $32 Our Special Price $27.50 when you buy 6 or more of this wine
