2007 Aerope Grenache

COLOUR | Very deep in colour for Grenache

AROMA | A multi-dimensional bouquet of stewed plums, wet ash, coal, violets, Asian spice, mint, lanolin, butcher’s shop, tea leaf, root beer & sawdust.

PALATE | The palate is very concentrated for a Grenache dominated blend (it has about 10% of Mataro). Mouth-feel starts out quite coating and gains focus as the tannin emerges to control the very juicy, soft and persistent palate. Starting out as predominately red fruit flavours, there is a move to darker fruits along the palate with some minerality. This wine has amazing length and a very clean finish.

The 2007 season was marked by extreme weather across Southern Australia, this significantly impacted yields. While Grenache was affected by these conditions, it fared better in vineyards with proactive irrigation and canopy management. Early signs of an advanced spring were evident when stone fruit and almond trees blossomed ahead of time. A dry and frosty June, followed by sporadic rainfall through to September, led to one of the driest seasons on record. Elevated spring temperatures and intense frosts during October and November caused widespread crop loss, though Two Hands’ Grenache vineyards were only minimally affected. However lower yields actually helped accelerate ripening, leading to an earlier than usual harvest. Despite low yields and weather extremes, the surviving Grenache parcels showed amazing quality, with concentrated flavours due to the small crop.

WINEMAKING | The grapes were handpicked and then crushed, destemmed and fermented in 5 tonne open fermenters. Most of the Grenache parcels were also fermented with a “whole bunch” component of up to 25%. After several days of cold maceration the musts were allowed to warm up to allow fermentation to proceed. During the peak of fermentation the batches were pumped over a minimum 4 times daily to extract colour, flavour and tannin. The average time on skins was 16 days. The free run was drained off and the skins were pressed, with the pressings then combined with the free run. After 24 hours the wine was then racked to oak.

MATURATION | Aged for 12 months in old French hogsheads and 12 months in bottle before release.

CLOSURE | Cork
VOLUME | 750ml
VARIETAL | Grenache
REGION | Barossa
ALCOHOL (% vol.) | 15.5%