2023 Ravensworth The Grainery

94 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

A blend of viognier, marsanne, roussanne. Portions are topped up, some left alone on lees. The blend is blended back across some chardonnay lees and hangs out in large format Stockinger barrel. A lot of shifting things around to get that profile up from 2023’s weaker pulse of seasonal flavour, per se. In that, the savouriness is a charm here, texture too. Clever. All the nuts and brine, an amontillado kind of note with light, washy green apple fruit, lime juice, a gently sweet lemony profile, nashi pear too. Lots of character emerges in the lighter, looser knit frame here, but the wine ends up compelling for that savoury twist and the overall impression is a wine to savour, or to use as final condiment in the glass for something substantial on the table. Serious wine.

94 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2023 The Grainery is a blend of Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. It matured in 600-liter demi-muids for one year, followed by a second year in 20-hectoliter Stockinger. Aromatically, the wine leads with yellow peach, pineapple and star anise; in the background, there's a suggestion of mineral turpentine layered with white tea, sweet mint and brine. In the mouth, the wine speaks of its élevage, with toasted nuts in profusion, intermingled with white chocolate, flowers and really great length. While I may comment that the oak is pronounced here, the wine is complex, long, layered and powerful. It has really great shape and length. It's very good, a wine for the future. It has an attractive Rhône Valley stamp. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

The wine is pressed to 600L demi-muids, wild fermented and left in barrel for a year, then racked and aged another 15 months in an oak foudre, which explains the deep gold hue and oxidative style. The fruit has completely dropped out, leaving flavours of preserved salty lemons, quinine and lots of chewy phenolics. Plenty of acidity yet quite terse and very dry on the finish. One for the fans.