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2012 Cirillo 1850 Old Vine Grenache
Recommendations
Marco Cirillo's ancient Grenache vines keep on keeping on, each year ripening a bounty of berries centuries after the vine was established.
This Grenache celebrates the legacy of these old beauties, a wonderfully concentrated red of effortless energy, a tangy red of beautiful integrity that relies on complexity rather than just ripeness.
Expert Reviews
This delivers an immediate sense of depth on the nose, stacking up blackberries, dark cherries, mulberries and warm baking spices with hints of fresh saddle leather and chocolate. The palate has depth of flavor in a precisely framed structural core, and the tannins are sturdy and smooth in that old-vine way. This builds and holds in impressive fashion, as blackberries and plums lift to a redder-fruit finish. Plenty of spices, too. Drink now to 2030+.'
Medium deep red with a tinge of purple. Raspberry, red cherry and peppermint aromas. Medium full bodied and very intense, fine, delicious. Gentle tannins. No obvious oak. An utterly gorgeous red wine.'
Recognised as the oldest grenache vines in the world. Hello. Good year for red stuff in the Barossa too, as we know. Well, for the most part. An anticipated wine for me, generally. And love the old school winemaking approach. Savoury scented, game meat, red berries, currants, pepper, herbal notes, paprika spice. Incredible volume of perfume. Concentrated flavours but gentle in the palate, fine, long in flavour, precision and yet a suppleness. It's very elegant, very fresh, ripples with silty tannins. Superb wine.'
The current release of Cirillo's most famous wine, the 2012 Ancestor Vines 1850 Grenache features aromas of pomegranate and raspberry. Medium to full-bodied, it's crisp and silky, picking up some herbal notes on the long finish.'
Tech stuff
Light
Full
How's it taste?
Beautiful red fruit with a dark, black core. Has a real energy, even with extensive ageing, that is closer to Chateauneuf than anything else.
How was it made?
The Cirillo 1850 Grenache grown on sandy soils situated in the old Seigersdorf or Light Pass area of the Barossa Valley. This single vineyard is believed to be the oldest Grenache vineyard in the world. Matured in aged seasoned hogsheads for 24 months.
Who made it?
The Cirillo family moved to the small district of Light Pass in 1970. Vincent Cirillo became the custodian to some exceptional vineyards that were planted in 1848; today they are noted to be the oldest surviving Grenache and Semillon producing parcels in the world. Marco Cirillo, the youngest of Vincent’s four children had always helped the family cultivate and preserve their precious Grenache, Semillon and Shiraz vineyards. It was during the late 1990’s when Marco was studying winemaking at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, and actively working as a cellar hand, that he honed his skills to become the exceptional winemaker that he is today. The family’s ancestor vineyards grow in around 8ft of pure golden sand and Marco and Vincent are the only two people to have pruned the 1848 Grenache vineyard in the past 40 years. The ‘basket‐pruning’ style adopted by Vince in the 70’s has helped the vines support themselves, ensuring they continue to produce incomparable fruit. The Cirillo Grenache is more about the variety than the oak. The tannins are so and long with great length. The balance between the primary fruit and the acid make this a beautifully seamless wine that mimics Rhone styles, and it is one of the few Australian Grenaches that will reward over a decade of cellaring.
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