Description
It’s not often in this business that you get bowled over by every wine in a winery’s lineup. Well that happened to us when we first tried Yangarra Estate Wines. Their rich and beautifully balanced Rhone varieties are so damn impressive and why they are regarded as making the best wines coming out of McLaren Vale!
The philosophy of this award-winning biodynamic producer is 100% estate grown fruit with devotion to the best grape varieties of the southern Rhone …shiraz, grenache, mourvedre, viognier and roussane. Yangarra’s combination of rare geologies, moderate altitude, abundant sunshine and cool evening breezes make it perfect for growing varieties that thrive in these moderate maritime environments.
“Venerable vines, fastidious viticulture and cutting-edge winemaking kit. It’s a killer combination, and the reason why Yangarra is producing some of the best wines in the Vale right now.” – Max Allen, The Weekend Australian
High Sands is Yangarra’s Grail. It captures the essence of their prized old vines. For them, High Sands means intense, brilliant, taut yet harmonious, serene, wholesome and complex. 100% Grenache, 69 year old vines, grown in Kangarilla, McLaren Vale. Wild yeast ferment, 12 months maturation in old 1-2 year old French oak, no fining just filtration.
High Sands is grown on the highest point of their grey ancient sandy dunes. The gnarly old bush vines were planted by Frederick Arthur Smart in 1946 when land grants were given to soldiers returning from World War II. The old strugglers are vase shaped and thinned to ten inches from the ground to create individual microclimates and better air flow within the canopy.
From the winery: “We select vines on the top of the ridge of 6 blocks of Grenache on the very top of the estate. There is a circle of the lowest vigour vines in Block 25, and a similar section in Block 31, both adjacent to Schuller Road. Winemaking techniques for the High Sands ensure the true expression of the blocks shine through: open fermenters, natural yeasts, and a careful regime of plunging, rack and returns. We drain off the wine to barrel and keep it on yeast lees for at least 12 months. It is stored in barrel for 15-18 months, only 1 year old French oak is used. We do not use any pressings in the blend. Two Individual barrels were chosen that displayed the desired minerality of the deep sand, more intense fruit expression and more gritty tannin structure than our estate Grenache.”
The 2015 stamp of full throttle acidity and tannin that has run through our Old Vine and Ovitelli Grenache is very evident in the High Sands. It is youthful and will benefit from some time bottle or time in a decanter. During the 2015 growing season, we experienced steady warm days (with only one extreme heat day) resulting in rapid sugar accumulation and resulting in a relatively early and compressed harvest.”
98 points and Best of the Best Varietal winners in 2019 James Halliday Wine Companion: “From Block 31, the highest section of the vineyard at 210m planted ’46, 50% whole berries, 50% destemmed, wild yeast open-fermented, matured for 10 months in used French oak. For many devotees of McLaren Vale grenache, Yangarra Estate High Sands is the king. It’s not for idle dalliance as is young grenache that is focused on freshness and purity of red fruit flavours, this has power and depth, the oak simply softening an edge or two here and there, most assuredly not about imparting oak flavour. Red and black fruits both contribute without cutting across the power of the other.“
95 points Huon Hooke: “Deep red/purple colour. The bouquet holds smoky, charry, savoury aromas with some dry spice notes, and has depth and gravity which mirrors the deep colour and is more profound than usual in pure grenache wines. Clove, pepper, mixed-spice aromas, full body and powerful flavour. The tannins are fine and soft and nicely balanced, providing impressive structure to the wine. An outstanding grenache. Drink 2020 – 2040”
94 points Campbell Matinson, The Wine Front: “Keen fruit, pure tannin, a keen line of acidity and stunning length. If there’s oak here it’s so hand-in-glove that you’re hard pressed to detect it. Kirsch, redcurrant, fennel and generous flings of dry spice. It needs a little time but it’s a ripper wine.”
RRP $165
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