Yangarra Hickinbotham Clarendon Grenache 2021

Hand-picked and wild-fermented, as is the wont here. Long, gentle extraction in amphorae, with 69% on skins for 198 days, gleaning long-limbed tannic nourishment and the sense of pixelated freshness that marks so many of the grenache wines. While the buzz is around Blewitt Springs, Clarendon expresses a more ferrous and firm iteration. Pithy. Nobly bitter, if not a little unresolved at the finish. Cherry cola, licorice root, dried thyme, bergamot, raspberry and persimmon. Latent but very fine. Your patience will be rewarded. Drink or hold. Screw cap. Points: 95/100

JS Wine Ratings ∙ 3rd Aug 2023

Fantastic. Skittish with cool, blood orange acidity under cherry pip, pomegranate juice, cranberry with its dryness. Dried herbs, a truffley umami lick, Chinese five spice, undergrowth and faint game meat. The tannins are the thing though, racy, tight. a sheath of silt and al dente chew in a wine that defies it’s alcohol percent and ends up finer, fresher, refreshing and bright. Feels 13% or so. It stretches luxuriously on those tannins and finishes with a perfect reset each sip. Perfumed as all get out too. It went from fish to chook to salads to a bean stew and had more to go. Moreish to the max. 96+ Points: 96/100

The Wine Front ∙ 23rd Apr 2023

Medium-depth purple-red colour with a reserved but fragrant bouquet of red fruits and floral overtones, a note of blackberry pastille, a subtle lacing of fresh herbs, and a sheen of firming tannins coating the palate from start to finish. Long and promising: a very smart grenache. Points: 95/100

The Real Review ∙ 31st Dec 2022