2023 Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache
2023 Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache

2023 Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache

96 pts
Vinya Vella |Barossa Valley |Grenache
Gorgeous 96 point Barossa Old Vine Grrenache from the Halliday Viticulturist of the Year.
Price:
$65.00
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In stock, ready to ship
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Description

2026 Viticulturist of the Year
Halliday Wine Companion Awards

Vinya Vella is a living piece of Barossa history: 4 hectares of gnarled, own-rooted bush vines, many planted more than a century ago in the deep sands of Vine Vale. These old soldiers are Dylan Grigg’s pride and joy, farmed by hand with his father, Paul, and coaxed into producing some of the country’s most soulful Grenache.

Dylan isn’t just a grower - in this year he was named Viticulturist of the Year in the Halliday Wine Companion Awards, recognition of both his global expertise and his stewardship of Australia’s oldest vines. With a PhD on the role of vine age in wine quality and a career consulting across Australia and Europe, Dylan combines rigorous science with instinctive farming. As he says, “Every day is a school day… there are lessons everywhere if you open your eyes.” Vinya Vella is his chance to put that philosophy in the bottle.

The 2023 season was cool and cloudy, yet the sprawling old vines took it in stride. Picked in two passes for balance, the fruit was given a gentle, low-intervention vinification: wild ferment, a third whole bunch, a short rest in old oak, no fining or filtration. The result is medium-bodied Grenache laced with red berries, rose petal and spice, underpinned by sandy tannins and a savoury core that speaks clearly of its site.

It’s a wine that doesn’t rely on volume but on detail, unfolding slowly, rewarding patience, and carrying the quiet authority of both its vines and its grower.

"Dylan Grigg is a bit of a gun at this grenache thing... the palate is mesmerising, all supple, savoury and alluringly spicy with a bright mineral cadence and a tension and delicacy that impresses a great deal."
- Dave Brookes (Halliday Wine Companion)

Dave Brookes

Dave Brookes

Halliday Wine Companion 96 Points

Dylan Grigg is a bit of a gun at this grenache thing. I went to a tasting of the variety in the Barossa a while back (a benchmarking tasting with top-shelf grenache from around the world) and the Vinya Vella was at the pointy end for me. It's just so perfumed and pretty with come-hither aromatics that are hard to refuse. Red cherry, satsuma plum, raspberry pip and cranberry, daubed with citrus blossom high tones, gingerbread, souk-like spice, dried meats and earth. The wine's shape and flow on the palate is mesmerising, all supple, savoury and alluringly spicy with a bright mineral cadence and a tension and delicacy that impresses a great deal.

Campbell Mattinson

Campbell Mattinson

The Wine Front 95 Points

The dry rakes of spice through the pure, ripe fruit. This is another beautiful grenache from the Vinya Vella vineyard. Violets, blueberries, licorice and raspberry characters run with sweet spice and more fresh florals. The tannin here makes the wine stand up straighter. The garden flower aspect gives it an exotic vibe. This is light, bright and impressive, at once, and it’s also delicate.

Barossa is famous for some of the worlds oldest grape vines and is known for wines of exceptional detail and power. Our old vine Grenache shows off the vibrant and textural side of the variety, gnarled weathered vines growing in deep sand produce a medium bodied wine with lifted aromas and a long finish of fine tannins. A wine that will unravel and charm after time in a decanter without dominating your palate or plate.

2023 release is still medium bodied like the 2022 with red fruit and floral aromas and a core of fruit infused with savouriness. Those who have tried previous vintages will see the undercurrent of site expression that links all these wines remains true. The 2023 release is Grenache for all occasions.

2023 will be remembered as a cool, cloudy and humid season (more detail here), spring was wet, this meant a lot of hard work to manage the shoots for airflow and light infiltration. The big sprawling old vines came into their own in this weather with bunches spread out over a large area, although they took their time to grow with a slow start early in spring but catching up in summer.

Summer storms near harvest meant meant dodging weather for picking windows and patience were required. With the use of a bunch mass data logger for decision making and our free draining sandy soils we were very happy with the harvested fruit and the wine speaks of this vintage clearly and proudly.
Viticulture
Old Bush vines are a challenge to manage, simple on one hand with trellis to support the vines but complex on the other as we must work closely to support and care for these old treasures to continue to grow.

All 2500 vines are pruned to detail depending on the vine health and size. In spring the vines are shoot thinned to minimise wounds made at pruning time and focus growth to points of strength. Leaf plucking is undertaken to expose lower buds and fruit at flowering if required. After veraison bunches that had not coloured evenly were removed reducing the variability between what is left behind.

The undervine area is controlled principally by use of a traditional knife on a 1940’s Fiat tractor and by hand. The very sandy soil is easy to work and dries rapidly in summer to minimise competition from weeds.

The mid-row is managed according to the season, cover-crops of cereals and legumes are planted in autumn, left to grow all winter and rolled or mown in spring to reduce frost risk. As the sand dries out little re-growth occurs, if it does this is mown again.

Fruit maturity is judged by tasting and measuring, one eye on the solar radiation accumulation and the other on the baume. Harvested baume is between 13.5 and 14 depending on the day. (we picked across 2 days again here).

Technical Specs
14.5% ABV
3.64pH
4.6g/l acidity
Vegan
S02 at bottling
Unfined and unfiltered
Diam closure

Winemaking
The winemaking process is the same as all previous vintages. Winemaking is kept as consistent as possible to follow the seasons and learn the true expression of the site and the year. I am a viticulturist, a vine observer, I am constantly working in the vines and watching and feeling the season to grow healthy even shoots that carry healthy even bunches. With this aim we are refining the viticulture each season so with consistent winemaking we can see the true expression of the site and season. Perhaps I'll adapt some aspects but for now it's a matter of keeping it simple so I can hear and feel what these wild old vines are telling us each year. We take two picks each year only to see what difference this time on the vine provides, this is tiny production so it all ends up in the bottle but we can learn about harvest decisions this way.

The grapes are hand picked and sorted to ensure only the most healthy, mature and clean bunches are retained. These are transported 2km to the cellar at Spinifex where the wines are made.

Harvested 5th March and 15th March, 2024.

Both parcels were treated the same, hand picked and put into 1500L stainless open-top fermenters.

33% De-stemmed whole berries on the bottom
33% Whole bunches in the middle
33% De-stemmed whole berry on top
1% magic

Wild ferment began spontaneously, juice was racked over the top of the tank from the bottom once ferment began. Gentle cap submersion mid ferment and after 8 days on skins when the ferment was slowing, juice was drained off, the whole bunches were foot stomped and the skins and bunches were pressed to tank to finish fermentation.

Once dry the wine was transferred into old oak puncheons for 4 months only and then into stainless on lees. Bottling occurred 6 months later.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type Red
Body Full Bodied
Variety Grenache
Country Australia
Region Barossa Valley
Australian State SA
Feature High Score
Reviewed By Halliday Wine Companion
Critic Score 96
95
Alcohol 14.5%
Size 16
Vintage 2023
Closure Cork

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