2023 Spinifex Luxe Rose

95 pts
Pete Schell's seriously savoury, ageworthy Rose - and winner of the 2023 Halliday Wine Awards Rose of the Year!

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Description

The 'Luxe' Rose is Pete Schell's homage to Bandol Rose, being Mataro/ Mourvedre dominant, with smaller amounts of Cinsault and Vermentino in the mix.  It's only released in the best vintages.

Old bush-vine fruit and aging on lees in old French barrels all help create a wine of savoury power and wonderful length. Spicy, succulent and full of layers, it is a gem of a wine.

Not much around, so grab some now, and if you can leave in the cellar for a few years, your reward will be ample.

95 points
"Pete Schell is a bit of a wizz at rosé, here 51/40/9% grenache/mataro/cinsault. I've got an inkling Pete might drink a bit of Bandol rosé, so that should guide you to his winery's style. It's like an extra utensil at the dinner table. Redcurrant, raspberry, watermelon, soft spice, blood orange, dried herbs, savoury, umami, stony, boardshorts, sunhat, seafood, tick."
- Dave Brookes (Halliday Wine Companion)

93+ points
"Beautiful rosé. Bone dry. Strawberried and earthen, spicy and direct, with a slip of grape-skin texture and excellent citrus-driven length. Raspberry and blackcurrant bud characters bloom as the wine breathes but its earthen, spicy, stony dryness prevails throughout. In drinking terms it has at least another couple of summers in it."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

95 points - "Pete Schell is a bit of a wizz at rosé, here 51/40/9% grenache/mataro/cinsault. I've got an inkling Pete might drink a bit of Bandol rosé, so that should guide you to his winery's style. It's like an extra utensil at the dinner table. Redcurrant, raspberry, watermelon, soft spice, blood orange, dried herbs, savoury, umami, stony, boardshorts, sunhat, seafood, tick." - Dave Brookes (Halliday Wine Companion)

93+ Points - "Beautiful rosé. Bone dry. Strawberried and earthen, spicy and direct, with a slip of grape-skin texture and excellent citrus-driven length. Raspberry and blackcurrant bud characters bloom as the wine breathes but its earthen, spicy, stony dryness prevails throughout. In drinking terms it has at least another couple of summers in it." - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

The Luxe Rosé made its debut in 2009 and, since then, has only been made in vintages Pete and Magali deem exceptional for the style. In the last ten years, Luxe has been released just four times in very small quantities, perhaps explaining this wine’s cult-like status. Favouring Mediterranean varieties that have a proven track record in the Barossa and the south of France, this year’s blend combines fruit from three vineyards. The Grenache (51%) is drawn from an ancient, gravelly/sandy block in Bethany; the Mataro (40%) from a 30-year-old bush vine block on Stonegarden's terra rossa soils; and younger-vine Cinsault (9%) from the gravel-shot red clays of southern Ebenezer. All three sites are old-school farmed, with few to no inputs or irrigation, and generate very low yields.

In contrast to previous years, Schell is pushing a franker expression of fruit and has pared back his approach in the cellar. Each parcel saw between four and six hours of skin contact before fermentation and six months of maturation on lees in stainless steel tanks. Stylistically different it may be, but the 2023 Luxe holds all the complex detail, depth and perfumed power of its predecessors, now in a more elegant package. Lifted red fruits, vibrant floral and spice notes and a pulsating mineral stoniness flow through the fleshy, satin-like texture to a moreish, berry-soaked close. It’s a stunner!

Price Bracket $31 to $40
Type Rosé
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Grenache
Variety Style ["Grenache Blends"]
Country Australia
Region Barossa Valley
Australian State SA
Feature High Score
Reviewed By The Wine Front
Halliday Wine Companion
Critic Score 93
95
Alcohol 12%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2023
Closure Screw Cap

Spinifex Wines

Spinifex are one of the 'New' Barossa's true pioneer producers. Husband and wife team Peter Schell & Magali Gely have extensive experience in southern France, which proves the inspiration for their unique wines made from predominantly Rhone varietals.

Spinifex was on the front line of the new wave of Barossa producers. Peter's wines brought a new sensibility to the region, they were lower in alcohol, concentrated but elegant, and balanced to perfection. He takes the art of blending into the realm of the virtuoso. There are few wineries who deliver refinement and poise from the Barossa Valley like Spinifex.

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