Thistledown, This Charming Man Single Vineyard Old Vine Grenache, Clarendon, Mclaren Vale, South 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

A remarkable site that has vines of 100 years old. The entire site, planted high in the picturesque Clarendon sub-region, is dry grown bush vines and has been farmed by the same family for 3 generations. This wine is sourced from one particular block where the canopy is raised slightly higher above the ground, allowing for better air circulation and increased radiated sunlight.

Winemaking

Hand picked fruit was transported to the winery where 20% was retained as whole bunches to be placed on the base of a 2 ton open fermenter. Wild fermented and gently hand plunged twice a day during active fermentation. Pressed off to 300 litre hogsheads, of which 20% were new.

Oak Ageing

Time: 12 Months
Type: French 300 Litre Hogshead
% wine oaked: 66
% new oak: 20

Tasting Note

On a beautiful hillside in the Clarendon sub-region of McLaren Vale, three generations of the Smart family have devoted their lives to Grenache. Decades have passed where precious few valued their crop and yet they endured. That this remarkable vineyard has sustained is down to one man, Bernard Smart and this wine pays homage to this charming man. The 2023 vintage marks the passing of Bernard Smart. He was there when they picked the fruit and we’ll raise a glass to him as we open the first bottles of ’23. Muscular yet elegant silky black fruits couple with deep, rich, warming spices, hints of violet, mineral and black cherry

Food Matching

Beef casserole, coq au vin.

Awards

Robert Parker Wine Advocate 96 Points
he 2023 The Charming Man Single Vineyard Grenache is altogether moodier and darker than the Sands of Time tasted alongside it, but that is not making a comment on "weight" or "density" but rather on character. Here, we have blackberry and mulberry, raspberry pip and star anise, layers of coal dust, dirt and graphite, clove and even nutmeg/cinnamon. The tannins are über fine, chalky, grippy and gently chewy. It is a wonderful thing to experience the "feel" of the wine as much as the taste. Interacting with red wine in this way—and white as well—makes for thrilling drinking. It curls and winds its way through the long finish. It's super. A pleasure. 96 Points, EL, 2024.
James Suckling 96 Points
It is inescapable, the need to compare the iconic grenache cuvees from this producer. Each superlative, vying for top position with the other each year, the seeding oscillating with vintage vagaries and mood. This is a richer geological mold, more ferrous of make up, resulting in a more ferruginous wine. Still, it’s mid-weighted of feel, due to the inherent freshness and bulletproof tannin profile, rocky and sublime. Thyme, dried lavender, kirsch, cardamon, tamarind and rose water. Exotic and resinous. Not the balletic pirouette of fragrance-meets-freshness of its sibling, necessarily. Yet, there’s more grunt, a little more extract, longer-limbed tannins and so much to believe in. Put this away for six-years and see what happens. I hedge towards magic, once the force-field of tannins settles. 96 Points, NG(MW), 2024.
The Real Review 96 points
Ruby red at the core, deep purple rim. Dark cherry, iron filings and boudin noir aromas. A dense and powerful wine, loading with intense cherry and blueberry fruit that is intertwined with dark ferrous minerality, dried blood and dark spices that all combine to captivate your senses. Tannins are equal to the job at hand, ensuring the palate has tension and focus whilst rolling incredibly long and lingering. Needs more time to really show its true potential. 96 Points, SK, 2024.
Halliday Wine Companion 2025 Special Value Grenache of the year 98 Points
Dry-grown bush vines fruit from the legendary Smart vineyard in Clarendon. Fermented wild with 20% whole bunches, matured in French hogsheads. This is early on this wine, with so much to unfurl, but the promise is striking. Sour cherry, pomegranate, cranberry, blood orange and a ferrous rockiness, white pepper, raspberry leaf tea and warm terracotta cast across a framework of finely lacy but expansive tannins. Ample air, over two days, sees this soar, though only time will unlock all its secrets. If a case still needs to be made for those that doubt McLaren Vale grenache is inimitable, thrilling and unquestionably world class, then here is Exhibit A. Stunning. 98 Points, ME, August 2024