Thistledown, She's Electric Single Vineyard Old Vine Grenache, McLaren Vale, South Australia, Australia, 2023

Producer Profile

Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke & Fergal Tynan, founded Thistledown Wines in 2010 after discovering iconic vineyard sites in the McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills.

They make hand-made, small batch wines that perfectly illustrate the benefits of great sites and intelligent, minimalist winemaking.

Viticulture

Dry grown, old bush vines, grown on red-brown sandy loams with quartz and ironstone. Low intervention viticulture with minimal spray regime, cover crops and promotion of biodiversity.

Winemaking

The fruit was hand-picked early in the morning before swift transport to the winery where we retained 50% whole bunches. A gentle foot pressing helped establish the wild ferment. Once fermented, the wine was transferred to 500l puncheons & 300 litre used French oak hogsheads where it stayed for 8 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered

Oak Ageing

Time: 8 Months
Type: 500l puncheons & 300 litre used French oak hogshead
% wine oaked: 100
% new oak: None

Tasting Note

Aromatic, fragrant and almost pinot-like, this wine has great energy. Cranberry, spice and wild cherry combine with silky texture to create a beautifully elegant red.

Food Matching

North African and Middle eastern cuisine or robust fish dishes.

Awards

Robert Parker Wine Advocate 95 Points
The 2023 She's Electric Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache was handpicked, whole-bunch pressed and fermented wild with 50% whole bunches, then matured for 10 months in older French oak. The palate is complex and complete, with a ductile framework of tannin and lashings of exotic spice, raspberry compote, licorice and black tea. This is a superb wine; it's rich and big but so balanced. There is energy here, edgy, vibrant energy. 95 Points, EL, 2024.
James Suckling 95 Points
This grenache shows glorious riffs on tangerines, mandarin peel, kirsch, cranberries, cloves and mace with a succulent mouth-feel. Full, but feels more medium-bodied. Scintillating length with a briary, chewy edge. Wonderful drinking. Drink or hold. Screw cap. 95 Points, NG(MW), 2024.
The Real Review 95 points
In this gorgeously fragrant and dramatic grenache, they have absolutely captured the essence of old vine McLaren Vale grenache. Lovely vibrancy of colour in the glass. The aromas are alluring and complex. There's plenty of dried flowers, herbs, red and blue fruits and a sarsaparilla lift. The flavours are vivid and multi-faceted, all red fruits, spice and a creamy, textured mouth-feel. The tannins have a suppleness, yet real presence and the acidity delivers snap and crackle. Delicious gear. 95 Points, AB, 2024.
The Wine Front 94 Points
Seaview Grenache. 50% whole bunch. 2023 was a cool and late vintage. Strawberry, raspberry, spice, thyme, mint, Earl Grey tea, a Campari-like top note. It’s medium bodied, spicy with cherry and blood orange, fine white pepper dusted tannin, and some of that in the flavour department too, kind of bony, but juicy with strawberries too. Finish is powdery and long. Very good. 94 Points, GW, 2024.
Halliday Wine Companion 2025 Special Value 96 Points
'From dry-grown old bush vines planted to red-brown sandy loams with quartz and ironstone in Seaview. Wild fermented with 50% whole bunches; eight months in French oak. This is such an aromatically distinctive wine, with all the Thistledown grenache bottlings so keenly differentiated – I would not tire if there were more! Open and perfumed at this early stage, with wild cherry, a garigue-like scrubby note, tart redcurrant, rhubarb and warm brown spices and a depth that belies the immediate fragrance, transparency and pale hue. The balance here is the quiet star, with ripples of texture radiating over the sandy coil of tannin, effortless but with latent power. Stunning. 96 Points, ME, August 2024