Spinifex Ros 2023

This stellar release marks the 20th vintage of Provenal styled ros at Spinifex. This year it’s a blend of Barossa Valley Grenache (52%), Mataro (30%), Shiraz (16%) and Cinsault (2%). The vines are all dry-grown and mainly bush vines with an average age of 50 years, although the oldest parcels reach up to 90 years of age.

The fruit was all hand-picked and chilled overnight, before crushed bunches were macerated for between six and 24 hours before pressing. The wine was wild-fermented mainly in tank (with five per cent fermented and aged in old French oak demi-muids), and matured on lees prior to being bottled.

The resulting wine offers the kind of vibrant texture and crunchy line that were once the exclusive domaine of Provenal ros. Not anymore. With delicate red fruits, grapefruit and a little river stone and garrigue, its a bone-dry and gently textured wine with a chalky feel and a nervy cut. The finish is long, pristine, and tinged with saline minerality.