2022 Ovitelli Grenache

From 1946-planted vines in Block 30, adjacent to the High Sands Block; destemmed, crushed and fermented in 675L ceramic eggs; pressed after about 150 days then returned to the eggs for a total of 14 months' maturation. Taut and sinewy, both a function of making and the year that was, this is a coiled spring of dried flowers, cranberry, raspberry leaf tea, cherry, pomegranate and dusty white pepper spicing. The pedigree of place, venerable vines, impeccable viticultural stewardship and fine-tuned making suggest this will have a long and exciting future, but it needs a few years to unlock all its mysteries. As it stands, it is a thrilling bottle, if a little stern at present. I have a feeling the score may tick up with time.

The concrete and the clay beneath my feet, begins to crumble, but love will never die. Gee, you can really smell and taste the maturation vessel in this wine, which I like, because it appeals to my love of Italian wines and their tannic structure. Red fruit, dried flowers (including chamomile), aniseed and mint, tamarind, almond meal and fresh rhubarb, cranberry flavour and acidity. It’s medium-bodied, dry and very firm, but does have bright red fruit of some succulence in with all that dusty terracotta stuff. The finish is long and kind of bony, but it does carry perfume as it closes. This may be a little too much for some. but I love it. Such a fine and distinctive wine.

Vibrant ruby and bright purple tones shine in the glass. Raspberry, dried clay and anise spice aromatics. Palate sings with red fruits, Turkish Delight and a mélange of North African spices. Tannins are fine and sandy but have great persistence and power so the whole palate is carried to a prodigiously long finish. There’s so much to discover here that you’ll want to sit in quiet introspection when drinking it.

The 2022 Ovitelli Grenache is a wine of unexpected twists and turns ... on one hand, it aromatically offers amaro bitters and nuances of tequila sunrise (without the tequila, or perhaps it is anejo or mezcal), bitter orange and cranberry. There's a distinct biscuit character to note: Biscoff or malt. In the mouth, the wine is lean and spicy, layered with exotic herbs, graphite tannins and inflections of wet concrete and petrichor. The fruit on the mid-palate rises above its élevage and time on skins and envelopes us in raspberry and blood orange, which quickly sinks beneath a tide of clove buds and star anise and cardamom. It was handpicked from Block 20, adjacent to the High Sands block, destemmed and pressed to ceramic eggs for 150 days on skins. No pressings were utilized in the final blend. No oak was used at any stage; instead, the wine spent a total of 14 months in ceramic egg. Bottled June 2023. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.