Thistledown Fool on the Hill Grenache
Country: Australia Region: Eden Valley, Barossa
Varietal: Grenache Vintage: 2024
Colour: Red Style: Dry
Producer: Thistledown Wines
Description:
Founded in 2010 by British MW Giles Cooke, Thistledown is a renowned and award-winning Australian winery. The company focuses primarily on artisanal wines, with a special focus on Grenache (especially from old vines), but also produces excellent Chardonnay and Shiraz.
Made in just under 2,600 bottles, the Fool on the Hill is a Grenache-based red from Joel Mattschoss's Trial Hill vineyard, a stunning hillside site overlooking the Barossa Valley. Here, the old, bush-trained vines are isolated at approximately 500 meters above sea level and produce grapes with great concentration and minerality. After the morning harvest, fermentation occurs spontaneously with 20% whole bunches in concrete pyramids. The finished wine then ages for 11 months in oak.
97+/100 Points, The Wine Advocate
“The 2024 Fool on the Hill Grenache is from Eden Valley, and the wine is abundantly aromatic and eloquent of its place. The wine is aromatically soft, textural and plump in the mouth, with rose petals and blood orange, red apples and redcurrants. With a hint of pomegranate molasses, the quartz comes through, and there’s an integrated base of savoury flavour that balances the exuberance of it. It’s a highly attractive, gorgeous wine that speaks of the Eden in its splay of rocky tannin. It is chewy and powdery and fills the mouth with floral perfume. When I think of the three Grenache wines, I, perhaps controversially, given the others are from McLaren Vale, admire the tannin structure of this one the most.”
Tasting Note:
On the nose, the wine reveals an intense aromatic profile with ripe notes of flowers and red fruits (particularly cherry, pomegranate, and currant) and spicy and mineral hints. On the palate, it is soft and rounded, full-bodied and expressive. It features fine, well-integrated tannins and a distinctive minerality. The finish is long and fruity.
Food Pairing:
A great match for many Asian-style dishes as long as they aren’t too spicy.
