Aphelion Grenache Tasting

[Michael McNally]

One of the many good things about the Winefront is the discovery of new wineries. In January, I saw reviews of a couple of Grenaches from a new McLaren Vale producer, Aphelion. The reviews, which I will not reproduce here out of old-fashioned respect for copyright, were positive and said that the winemaker, Rob Mack, had used the same fruit from Blewitt Springs to produce 4 individual Grenache wines, which I found intriguing. I ordered a tasting pack, and Rob was more than happy to hold onto the wine until the weather cooled to ship.

I wanted to open all 4 at once so invited a few offline regulars over for a meal. Rob was kind enough to talk to me about his wines at length (on the weekend before his wedding!). His focus is on letting the vineyard do the talking and the structure in his wines and the proof was certainly in the pudding. The wines were tasted in the order he recommended.

2014 Aphelion Whole Berry Grenache. Unsurprisingly the fruit was destemmed. I liked the floral aromatics and structure of this wine. Only medium-bodied it was quite light and tight but no candy shop flavours here. Very savoury, structured finish. Great start.

2014 Aphelion 50/50 Grenache. Fifty percent whole bunches and fifty percent destemmed. This was pretty tightly wound and the stems came through with some capsicum and tomato leaf characters on the nose. More chompy and savoury than the Whole Berry, and a bit more body (again unsurprisingly). Still preferred the Whole Berry….

2014 Aphelion Pressings Grenache. The pressings of the Whole Berry and 50/50 after the free run juice had been taken off. This had some of the florals of the WB with heavier tannin (to be expected) and probably the deepest set and darkest of the fruit profiles. This was the least popular with the forumites (so there was more left for me to go back to at the end of the evening!). Still preferred the Whole Berry

2014 Aphelion Grenache. This blend of the three other wines was unanimously the favourite of all the 5 forumites. For me it was the evolving complexity/completeness of the wine. Something you could keep going back to. Nose, fruit, structure, length. This was far more interesting than a 2010 Ochota Barrels on the night and had more body that the 2014 Greg McGill ‘Red Letter Days’ Grenache that Nick brought.

Everyone was really impressed with the range, particularly at the price – and very disappointed when I said there were no 2015s! (Apparently Rob focused on some Sagrantino in 2015, though he said the Grenache will be back in 2016…)

On the strength of the tasting I bought two more sets of the 4 wines (had to do some searching as Rob has sold out of the 50/50) so I can do it all again in 2 and 5 years’ time! I also got a few more of the Grenache. Excellent wine.

Cheers

Michael

[ticklenow1]

The Grenache (the blend) was definitely the pick for me. Plenty of complexity but enough fruit to make it make it very interesting. Certainly a maker to keep an eye on. I'll be grabbing a 6 pack of the Grenache.

The Ochota Barrels was a big disappointment. '09 corked and the '10 just was boring. On that performance I'll certainly stop buying it. Quite frankly the Aphelion's offer much better VFM and certainly more interest.

The 2 Chardonnays were amazing. Sorrenberg and Epis.

Thanks for a great night Michael.

Cheers
Ian

[rens]

All the wines were enjoyable (Excluding the 09 Ochoa Barrels-buggered by bark) The Grenache tasting was great to compare different wine making methods.
Thanks again for the hospitality Michael.
Looking forward to the next one.

[rmack]

Thanks very much for the comments guys, I love getting constructive feedback on our wines like this.

Our 2016 Grenaches are sleeping in their barriques at the moment, I'll be bottling those and also my 2015 Sagrantino around the end of this year for probably a Feb(ish) release.

Pressed off my 2016 Mataro last weekend that had been on skins for 2 months, i'm excited to see how she turns out when she's had time to settle down in barrel.

Cheers

[RogerPike]

Excellent wines at a good price and Rob is a great guy which makes buying his wines so much easier

Roger

[rmack]

Thanks for the kind words Rog, much appreciated mate.

Cheers

[Redback]

After reading the comments above, I picked up a bottle the blend last night to have with dinner. A quick decant. On first sip, you initially feel some of the alcohol warmth (14.8%) but this quickly goes away. Slight sweetness and certainly not confectionary like some SA Grenaches can become. Enough complexity from the blend to make it interesting. A very easy wine to drink. Thanks guys for the recommendation!

[Michael McNally]

No worries Redback. That's the best thing about the Forum.

When I re-ordered I got Rob to throw in a couple of the 2014 Aphelion Chardonnay. Tried one last weekend. i didn't take a proper note but the fruit was good, with guava and an citrus blossom on the nose and a guava and 'not quite pineapple' tropical fruit profile. Still enough citrus to clear off the palate and very enjoyable chardonnay with good length for the price. If I am being overly critical (can you tell I'm about to be?) it's that the wine while very enjoyable and clearly Chardonnay, lacked a bit on the complexity side of things. As I said, being picky, particularly at the pricepoint. Better than a lot of other $20 Chardies that's for sure.

Cheers

Michael

PS Nice to hear you are alive and well Roger!