GRENACHE MATARO

Reviews of 2021 Grenache Mataro:

92 points, James Suckling, April 2023:

"Bright, youthful and crunchy with aromas of red cherries, raspberries, pink peppercorns and white pepper. Medium-bodied with vibrant acidity and fine tannins. Peppery and wild finish. 70% Grenache and 30% Mataro. Delicious now." 

92 points, Angus Hughson, Vinous, February 2023:

"The 2021 Grenache and Mataro blend really delivers thanks to an expressive and generously fruited style radiating with black cherry, baked earth, red currants and older oak with a classic touch of McLaren Vale old iron. The palate is beautifully pitched - mouth-filling flavors and al dente tannins are superbly balanced to deliver genuine power and length."

93 points, Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal, December 2022:

"Medium deep crimson. Strawberry, red cherry, blueberry, bubble gum hint aromas. Sweetly fruited wine wine with ample red fruits, supply velvety textures and fresh indelible acidity before finishing crunchy and long. Very good viscosity and mineral length. Drink now to 2026."

91 points, Wine Advocate 2022, Erin Larkin:
"The 2021 Grenache Mataro is composed of 70% Grenache from the Hunt Road vineyard and 30% Mataro from the Sand Road vineyard. This is great! It is vibrant, nervy and fresh, with a skein of tannin that courses through the fruit. The acidity is briny and makes for juicy drinking. Well played."

Reviews of 2020 Grenache Mataro:

93 points, James Suckling 2021, Nick Stock:

"Strikingly bright and fresh raspberry aromas here with wild herbs and bracken, as well as leafy tones. Lively red and blue fruit sits concentrated on the palate. A fresh blend of 70% grenache and 30% mataro."

90 points, Halliday Companion 2022, Ned Goodwin:

"Hand picked, with a smidgeon of whole bunches (10%) in the 70% grenache. The oak, all used barriques. Sweet floral aromas segue to Turkish delight and kirsch. White pepper, Seville orange zest and clove lace the long finish. Sappy, crunchy and yet, a bit sweet."

 Reviews of 2019 Grenache Mataro:

 92 Points Winefront by Mike Bennie: 

"From good folks comes a good wine of good grapes from two good vineyards. Tension is the first thing that came to mind. This ain’t no blousy red. No, indeed, it sits on train tracks of tannin and acidity, a good bite of amaro tang and amongst all that some jubey, blackcurrant fruitiness. Perfume is mild but floral-leaning with dashes of peppery spice. It’s a wine that has you sit up straight and pay attention. It’s a bit serious, but good in that way. Medium weight, svelte, tense. Good stuff." 

Reviews of 2018 Grenache Mataro:

James Halliday, Wine Companion, January 2020, 95 points and top value wine:
"Classic southern Rhône Valley style, with the wild herbs and spices of the garrigue giving pleasure in the rims of aromas and flavours alike. It will be hard to keep your hands of it, but it could be a knockout with more time in bottle. 14.5% alc."

92 Points, James Suckling:
"Bright, red-fruit fragrance here with some darker berries in the mix, too. The palate is crisp, succulent and juicy, as a good young grenache should be." 

Mike Bennie - WBM March/April 2020, 93 points:
"There's a really lovely marriage of sweeter fruit gamey, earthy characters in this wine. I like the general sense of detail in the wine too - sheets of fruit character layered on spice, savouriness and a fresh pool of acidity. It feels quietly complex but wildly drinkable."

Reviews of 2017 Grenache Mataro:

James Halliday, Wine Companion, August 2018, 94 points and red value star:

"Superb colour; at maximum turbocharged revolutions, but the power is smoothly delivered across the palate. Because the balance is very good, this richly endowed wine will repay cellaring particularly well."

Mike Bennie, WBM July 2018, 93 points:

"Lovely stuff. Fragrant with musky-spice, raspberry and cranberry scents. The palate does a similar turn and sits squarely in a medium wieght wine zone. Some heft to the flavours but the finish is a bell ring of clean acidity. Appealing as. 14.5%, $27."

Decanter World Wine Awards (2018). Silver Medal. 93 points. www.decanter.com 

Reviews of 2016 Grenache Mataro:

Andrew Graham, Oz Wine Review, June 2017, www.ozwinereview.com

"The Leask Brothers are switched on growers and these wines typically show plenty of sunny generosity (if sometimes a little heat). The blend here is 60/40 Grenache Mataro; a good mix. Lots of juicy black and red berry fruit. Lovely. The tannins have a real sandy Grenachey shape to them (but with a licoricey oomph). Palate is silky smooth, slightly syrupy but really quite satisfying in its curranty flow, a big luscious wines that is very young, but exuberantly so. It could do with another year in bottle to integrate the bold flavours a little, but the flow of red fruit is undeniably attractive. Very well priced too. Best drinking: 2018-2028. 17.7/20, 92/100+. 14.5%, $25."

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, May 2017, www.winefront.com.au

"60% Grenache, 40% Mataro. I don’t have a feel for 2016 in McLaren Vale, as yet, but so far, I like what I see. A hearty red, but one that’s not too heavy. Red fruits, some floral perfume, slight confectionary notes, but tapered in with dried herb. It’s medium bodied, juicy and savoury at once, with a rub of sandy tannin, fresh red fruits, and a gently bitter amaro herb and earthy aftertaste. This goes all right. Good drinking here." 91 points

Huon Hooke, April 2017, www.huonhooke.com
"Deep red/purple colour, the bouquet black cherry, spices, firm tannins and good body weight. A nicely judged kiss of oak. Balanced and complete." 90 points

Stuart Robinson, May 2017, www.thevinsomniac.com

"Nigh on pitch-perfect 60/40 blend of two listed players. There's just something so wickedly, consistently, deliciously moreish about H&Y reds. This no exception, it extracts a juicy, jubey aromatic without straying too far towards confection. Call it an allure, call it what you will, inviting is what it is. Slipping around the palate with ease in its easy going, red fruited nature. There's more juicy red fruit, a slip of tannin providing an edge, a framework to carry. Mataro brings up the rear, it's bassy foundations adding length, substance, spice." 91 points

Reviews of 2015 Grenache Mataro: 

August 2016. 90 Points. Huon Hooke. www.huonhooke.com
"Spicy, sweet cherry, confectionery aromas. The palate is tight and lean with firm, fine tannins and a pleasant after-grip. A good, clean, bright wine of some depth. Very smart wine."

August 2016. James Halliday, Wine Companion. 92 Points www.winecompanion.com.au

"Aromas and flavours are both savoury and sweet-fruited with raspberry, chocolate, and mulchy notes in the mix. Well integrated tannin and acid keeps things fresh and in order. "

May 2016. Max Allen, Australian Gourmet Traveller. www.gourmettraveller.com.au

Top Drops of the Month, No 1. "heaps of juicy red berry-fruit flavours, but there is also a delicious gutsy earthiness-like sweet black composting leaf litter-that sets it apart".

March 2016. Stuart Robinson. 91 points. www.the vinsomniac.com.au A 60/40 blend of Grenache and Mataro respectively, and 100% McLaren Vale. Raspberry, red fruit, some wild herb/garrigue thing with a choc-raspberry-fudge milkshake. Trust me, it works. Juicy, a little dark fruit, chocolate, fine tannin; palate enlivening acidity that brings back the wine full circle. There's fruit in abundance, a little savoury tickle, good length. Another stellar wine.

February 2016. Winsor Dobbin. www.winsorschoice.blogspot.com.au
This is a fabulously accessible blend of 60% grenache and 40% mataro – the ripe, sweet grenache fruit melding with the earthy funkiness of the mataro to produce a beautifully balanced red that is designed for immediate enjoyment. No need to cellar this one; just put some gourmet sausages on the barbeque and you have a wine/food match made in heaven.

February 2016. 90 points. Gary Walsh. www.winefront.com.au
Good stuff. It’s crisp and perky, almost Italianate. Raspberry rope, strawberry, dried herb perfume. Medium bodied, crunchy and fresh, red fruits, light sandy tannin, more red fruits on the finish. Almost a ‘volcanic rock’ kind of thing going on. Nice to see a McLaren Vale wine that so bright and ‘food friendly’.