I am in love with the wine from this winery! A gorgeous white Rhone inspired blend that is oozing with class! Gorgeous creamy mouthfeel, apricot, acacia, honey help together by fine acidity and gentle old oak. A lovely textural wine with bags of character.
Made from a blend of two grape -hand-picked Roussanne from Sellicks Hill, biodynamic Grenache Blanc from the Riverland. Both varieties are hand picked and fermented separately. Roussanne is whole bunch pressed, lightly settled and wild fermented in French oak. Grenache is oxidatively handled prior to wild ferment in barrel. The two components blend prior to bottling.
The list of accolades is to long to list but this wine has certainly got the trade talking!
A blend of 60% roussanne, the remainder grenache blanc. This is excellent. The kind of varieties, despite the young vines, boding so well for a bright future. Tatami straw, lemon drop, quinine, stone fruits and ginger. Long and drawn out across a spindle of tannin chew as much as an intuitive verb of maritime freshness. Soft, mind you, but perfectly positioned. A mid-weighted wine of textural tapestry, poise and verve.
95 points, Wine Companion (February 2023)
he 2022 Walking With Kings Roussanne Grenache Blanc was sourced from McLaren Vale. Both varieties were handpicked and barrel fermented utilizing wild yeasts. The nose is soft and round with honeydew melon, spiced pear and orchard fruits. In the mouth, the wine is both complex and pert; the texture is complex and softened, thanks to the élevage in oak, while the acidity is tense and bright—a handy juxtaposition in a summer wine. Very smart.
93 points, Wine Advocate (February 2023)
The Details:
Country: Portugal
Region: Dao
Style: Complex, oaked, nutty, mineral
Grape: Roupeiro, Antao Vaz, Tamarez and Arinto
Abv: 13%
Producer
Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke & Fergal Tynan, founded Thistledown Wines in 2010 after discovering iconic vineyard sites in the McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills.
They make hand-made, small batch wines that perfectly illustrate the benefits of great sites and intelligent, minimalist winemaking.
