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2017 S.C. Pannell Smart Grenache

2017 S.C. Pannell Smart Grenache

McLaren Vale, SA

A new chapter in the S.C. Pannell legend - a hauntingly beautiful Grenache from some of the oldest soils in McLaren Vale. So perfumed, so pure, and built to last.

$55.00

Rated 5.0 out of 5
1 Review

Out of Stock

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About

About The Wine

Steve Pannell has been a leading figure in the rejuvenation and reinvention of Grenache in McLaren Vale over the last 20 years. Here we see the next step in his constant pursuit of perfection for the variety.

This year he releases two single vineyard Grenaches from McLaren Vale. This comes from the highest vineyard in McLaren Vale, high up on a hill in the Clarendon sub-region.

The vines that produced this beauty are 62 years old. No whole bunches in this wine, the brightness and ethereal quality of the fruit takes this into transcendent territory.

Gary Walsh was impressed enough to finish his 96 point review with simply this: "Wow."

About S.C. Pannell

Quite simply, Stephen Pannell is one of Australia’s finest and most imaginative winemakers. He’s a Jimmy Watson Trophy winner, a McLaren Vale Bushing King winner, a two-time Max Schubert Trophy winner, International Red Winemaker of the Year and Decanter Magazine’s 50 Most Influential Contributors to the World of Wine. Nick Stock described him as potentially “one of the greatest Australian winemakers ever to make wines in our age”.

Steve’s wines are made with modern Australian food and wine culture at the front of mind. The wines come from a range of stunning McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills vineyards, and are made from sustainable varieties that properly suit his South Australian climate.  They're built around brightness of fruit and savoury tannin structure, and whatever your poison is Steve has you covered! 

He is truly one of the most forward thinking and inspirational Australian winemakers alive today.

Steve taste-testing in his winery
Steve taste-testing in his winery
McLaren Vale, SA
Additional Info

From The Producer

2017 was a very cool, mild and stress-free vintage for vines, not winemakers! Good winter and spring rains were followed by a very mild, long summer. The results are wines with ample fruit complexity and great natural acidity. Most important however is the delicious fruit freshness and balance. 
100% Grenache from 62-year-old vines on the Smart Vineyard, Clarendon. Hand-harvested on 11th March, traditionally vinified in small, open-top fermenters with no whole bunches. Spent 10 days on skins before gentle pressing and transferred to a 2500-litre, six-year-old French-oak vat and four-year-old French oak puncheons for maturation before being bottled without filtration or fining 11 months later. Alcohol 14.2%; pH 3.39; TA 6.3g/L. – Stephen Pannell

Blend : Grenache (100%)
ABV : 14.20%
Closure : Screw cap
Drink Until : 2037
Bottle Size : 750ml

Expert Reviews

Critic Reviews

96Points
The Wine Front

"From a 62 year old vineyard in the Clarendon sub-region of McLaren Vale. I’ve not met Steve Pannell, but I’d volunteer that he’s one of the best winemakers in the country. Have been to his beautiful cellar door a few times. I keep a low profile, all things considered. A finer boned, musky and spicy expression of Grenache here. It’s medium bodied, almost strict in structure, with firm dry tannin, pitch-perfect acidity giving energy, fresh raspberry and something like black tea, or that elusive ‘mineral’ thing, a pleasant perfumed herb character as a counterpoint, and a crisp and very long finish, closing with gustatory tannin and subtle bitterness. Wow." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

97Points
Halliday Wine Companion

"From 62yo vines on the Smart Vineyard in Clarendon, small batch-open fermented, no whole bunches, 10 days on skins, 11 months in French oak. This is the bees knees, the bouquet surging from the glass before you have had time to collect your wits, gathering pace on the vibrant palate and lingering aftertaste, the sultry perfume with exotic spices is initially brushed aside by the intensity of the palate where fine but persistent tannins sweep up pomegranate, cherry and wild strawberry as they pass through." - James Halliday (Halliday Wine Companion)

96Points
James Suckling

"This is sourced from a small plot up in Clarendon and has a beautifully clear, perfumed red-fruit nose that offers much in the way of freshness and distinctive, wild-raspberry notes. The palate has a superb array of fine, fresh and succulent tannins that carry very vibrant raspberry and red-cherry flavour in a crisp mode. So elegant and really defined structure here. Drink or hold. Screw cap." - Nick Stock (JamesSuckling.com)

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Taste
Rated 5 out of 5
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1 Review
Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

This is divine!

The nose is gorgeously Grenache, so bright to the eye and on the palate; the cooler (higher grown) fruit is perfectly just-ripe, not in the often overdone style of the Vale, the tannin/acid balance is fine and the finish is long and lush .. this wine sings its quality.

A very cautious spender, I dropped the money on the table for this one without hesitation. Want something special? This is it!

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Taste
Rated 5 out of 5
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Rated 5 out of 5
Value for Money
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