Maverick Ahrens’ Creek BV Grenache 2021, Barossa Valley

Maverick Ahrens’ Creek BV Grenache 2021, Barossa Valley

This is Grenache that feels as though it has moved beyond the pretty exuberance of youth and into something altogether more contemplative. The Ahrens’ Creek vineyard contains some of the oldest vines in the Barossa, with around four acres of Grenache planted in the 1840s by Heinrich Gerhard Ahrens, who arrived in Australia in 1837. Nearly 180 years later, those vines are still producing fruit.

There is something quite moving about that history when you taste the wine. It feels less about youthful brightness and more about everything these vines have endured to still be here today.

Translucent in the glass, it passes the Philip White test with ease, you can see your fingers through it. Pretty red fruits mingle with pink flowers, wild strawberry and mulberry, followed by light savoury tannins and a deft touch of slatey minerality. Earthiness and plushness emerge with time, yet it is never heavy, never forced.

There is something wonderfully gentle about this wine. It simply sits beside you. It doesn’t tell you whether you’re right or wrong, rather it feels like the sort of wine that backs your judgement. Distinctive, deeply evocative and unlike anything I have tasted before.

Wishing these extraordinary vines another 180 years and more.

Vino Masters Score: 98/100 ★★★★★ Icon Wine with outstanding quality; shows great varietal purity and regional type.