Grenache – love it or hate it
Honestly: a few months ago I would not have dreamed of writing about Grenache as one of the most fascinating discoveries of my recent trip to McLaren Vale. Grenache, this was for me the Spanish version of a mass produced, cheap, untasteful Red, available in bulk at your local supermarket. Now there is nothing wrong with wine from your local bottle shop, but there was something in my mind which told me: there is something wrong with Grenache.
The Grenache Cadenzia: DogRidge from McLaren Vale
Wake up Australia: here comes the Aussie version of Grenache. Far from being a mass product, the McLaren Vale has grown to be the no.1 producer of this grape. With initially twelve wineries marketing their Grenaches under the ‘Cadenzia‘ label, this group is a bit smaller now but managed to drive a highly successful marketing campaign for ‘the wine of their Vale’.
I asked Fred Howard, winemaker and owner of DogRidge about the reason why Grenache grows so well in these harsh conditions in South Australia. About an hour later I was not only convinced, that this is THE NEW variety downunder, but I also had tasted the most amazing samples of various years of DogRidge’s Cadenzia Grenache.
More about my time with Fred Howard in one of my next entries.
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Vor meiner Reise in das McLaren Vale war ich nicht gerade als grosser Grenache Fan bekannt. Zu sehr habe ich die spanischen Billigfusel im Kopf (im wahrsten Sinne) – doch die australische Variante hat mich vom Gegenteil ueberzeugt. Die Vermarktung der Grenache Weine aus dem McLaren Vale als eine Besonderheit (a la Riesling aus dem Clare Valley) habe ich hier bereits beschrieben.
Nochmals nachgefragt habe ich dann bei Fred Howard, Miteigentuemer und Winzer des alteingesessenen DogRidge Weingutes, am Rande des Vale, genauer gesagt in McLaren Flat. Mehr zu diesem Interview lesen Sie in wenigen Tagen.
Einen schoenen Gruss
Ihr Michael Brecht
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Comments
We just spent a few days on Kangaroo Island just off to the Coast of South Australia in the most gorgeous Southern Ocean Lodge. Here we had various Grenache wines to cheese, awesome, delicious, mind blowing.
Richard from London
[...] Paxton, einer kleinen aber feinen Winery am Rande des Vale. Die 75/25 Kombination von Shiraz und Grenache ist eine sehr gelungene Variante – fuer weniger als umgerechnet EUR10 ist diese Flasche ein echtes [...]
[...] I was when I discovered Australian Grenache. McLarenVale is currently working hard to make Grenache ‘its grape’. I spoke to Fred Howard, winemaker and co-owner of DogRidge Winery in the [...]