Thanks to Andrew Graham at Australian Wine Review…
Grenache is back. And wines like this Tim Smith Grenache 2020 show just how disarmingly delicious the best wines can be.
That drinkability is a key to the Grenaissance (yes, I’m using that) really. Most of the delicous wave of modern Australian straight Grenache wines (a few here) are ripe, generous, luscious, inviting yet still thoroughly medium bodied.
From a winemaking perspective, moderation is the key too. Oak is generally a background character (if it shows at all), and acidity is typically low. It all adds up to ultimate approachability, with the best wines edging to profound purity too (especially in the most coveted old vine releases).
Probably the only thing that can dog Grenache is alcohol warmth, which turns some wines a bit soupy. Ditto some confection in riper styles.
I really like this Tim Smith Grenache 2020 too.
It’s a wine of volume, texture and inviting roundness. It’s about old vines, matured in old oak, the wine neither fined nor filtered, the result uncluttered. Unfettered. Unfucked with.
From a flavour perspective, it’s all about bright red fruited, with this line of iron and something sinewy and slow cooked, the palate full, but not overwhelming. That bone broth undercurrent is clearly a fruit thing, rather than about oak or stem influence or whatever, but it had me thinking about whether Tim had slipped some Mataro in for some blackness (some of the 100% Grenache Chateaunuef wines do the same thing FWIW)
Hearty is a good word here, yet it’s also a bright and finely tannic red. There’s just a little ripeness to finish, but it’s sort of part of the warm-hearted charm.
What a delicious, well-weighted, authentic, and proudly drinkable Grenache.
Best drinking: I like this style youngish, so go over the next decade. 18.7/20, 95/100. 14.5%, $42. Would I buy it? Definitely.
