Yangarra High Sands Grenache 2014

96+ Points Gary Walsh

High Sands is their Grail. It captures the essence of  prized old vines. For Yangarra, High Sands means intense, brilliant, taut yet harmonious, serene, wholesome and complex.

High Sands is grown on the highest point of our white/grey, ancient sandy dunes, on the very top of our Estate. The gnarly old bush vines were planted by Frederick Arthur Smart and his sons in 1946. His eldest son, Bernard Smart still lives adjacent to our property and still farms Grenache at Clarendon

The vineyard is certified Biodynamic (certification # 11587) with Australian Certified Organic. We have quite a practical approach, with our philosophy focused around healthy and alive soil, which involves no use of synthetic herbicides or fungicides, use of compost and biodynamic preparations, use of sheep in winter to graze under vine, and minimal mechanical soil disruption.

The fruit was hand-picked, 100% de-stemmed and mechanically berry-sorted, with only 50% of that crushed. 5 day cold soak at approximately 10 degrees. The wild fermentation is encouraged as the tank is warmed to approximately 20 degrees. We only plunge during the fermentation. No pressings are used. We drain off the wine to barrel and keep it on yeast lees for the entire 10 months of maturation, using only our best 1 and 2 year-old French oak. Individual barrels are chosen that display the pedigree of the deep sand, with intense fragrance juxtaposed with intense fruit expression and gritty long tannin structure. Not Fined. Bottled February 2015. Certified Biodynamic.

“”Beautiful fragrance here – fresh field roses, raspberry, aniseed and dried mint, almost a chocolate thing going on too. Medium bodied, gentle sweep of sweet fine grained tannin, plump red berries lend succulence, but it’s not confected or gooey in any sense. Dusty and spicy, great length of flavour, with earthy tannin grounding it and pushing it long. Incredibly good wine. Hard to choose between the 2013 and 2014. The former with maybe more length and impact, the latter all grace and charm. 96+ points, though could even twist my arm to 97.” – 96+ Points Gary Walsh