Reviews

Reviews of the 2022 Carignan:

91 points, Angus Hughson, Vinous.com, April 2025:
The relatively rare 2022 Carignan has a delicious approachability bursting with blackberry, mulberry and sweet red cherry aromas, with a touch of musky plum skin. The good times continue with fleshy flavors, zippy acidity and just enough tannins to keep its streamlined shape over a generous finish. The 2022 is a fun Carignan that is hard to put down. Drinking window: 2024-2027.

16.5, Max Allen, Jancis Robinson, October 2023:
Vines planted in 2013, last red variety to be harvested in 2022, made in two batches– one free-run juice, lighter, fruitier; the other whole-berry, crushed, pressings added back, more structural – then blended for 6 months’ maturation in older puncheons. Enticing, black fruit, good vinosity, fine and focused. Keeps Carignan’s earthiness, growly tannins and gaminess as background notes, brings the delicious fruitiness into the foreground.

91 points, James Halliday Companion, Ned Goodwin MW:
This is good. Perhaps the most convincing red of the suite, particularly in light of a variety endowed with astringent mettle and inherently high acidity. Placated, toned and let loose with what feels like gentle extraction and the right sort of oak treatment. Red pastille, kirsch, bergamot and a herbal tannic twine directing the fray. Mid-weighted, fresh, intense of flavour and yet light on its feet. Immensely versatile at the table. Easy drinking.

92 points, The Wine Front:
I do enjoy Carignan, especially from creaking old vines, though this offering from a vineyard planted in 2014 shows a fresher face, but still has excellent varietal character. Red and blue fruits, a little ironstone and scrub herb perfume, even some choc-liquorice. It’s medium-bodied, gently saline and savoury, light grip of tannin, good freshness and perfume, and offers a chewy finish of solid length, with a bit of amaro/orange peel trailing. Lots of character, and good to drink. Like it.

Reviews of the 2021 Carignan:

90 points, MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator, December 2023:
This has a wonderful energy to the core of red fruit flavors, including wild strawberry, cranberry and maraschino cherry. Reveals hints of clove-heavy chai tea that are supple, juicy and plush on the long finish. Drink now.

92 points, James Halliday Companion, Ned Goodwin MW:
Grapes like this excite me. They are torrid and equipped with natural astringency and bright acidity, something that most traditional grapes in these parts lack. And? The wines have tension, detail and the savoury sort of lattice between fruit and finish that is required for a second glass. This is handled orchestrally. Red fruits, thyme, rosemary and scrub. A deft approach to gentle extraction that renders character without carignan's facility for hardness. Simple. Perhaps. But a tattoo of crushable drinkability reads 'thrills with a chill'.

Reviews of the 2020 Carignan:

92 points, James Suckling 2021, Nick Stock:
Such attractive, brambly raspberry and blackberry aromas here with a flurry of wild herbs, too. So fresh. The palate has vibrant red-berry flavors that sit lively, framed in bright, easy tannins. Very drinkable now.

91 points, Halliday Companion 2022, Ned Goodwin:
I can't think of many varieties better suited to the dry Mediterranean climate of McLaren Vale. Able to withstand torrid conditions while embedding its wines with a wiry cage of tannin and bright acidity, carignan is one of many tickets into the future. This producer champions plenty of others. A partial wild fermentation and short élevage in older French wood intuits promise: cherry pith, thyme, mint, liquorice. The tannins, as expected. Thrills with a chill.

Reviews of the 2019 Carignan:

91 points, The Real Review, Huon Hooke:
Bright, medium to deep red/purple colour. The nose is savoury, earthy as well as plummy, dark fruits driving the wine. A hint of pepper. Medium to full-bodied, abundant tannins which are powdery and supple. Some chocolate. Good drinking already and will take some age.

91 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front:
Vibrant, forest berry fruitiness, sprigs of green herb, minty notes, peppery stuff. Palate is light and lithe, sizzles with tart acidity in a good way, shows a feathery lick of earthy tannin. Spice, cranberry, kind of transparent, exotic things, it’s interesting and good. I like it. A bit amaro?

91 points, James Suckling:
This has red-flower and leafy aromas, as well as some earthy nuances. Vibrant raspberries and tart red cherries. Succulent appealingly fresh raspberries and redcurrants on the palate with fine, crisp tannins.