Thistledown, The Vagabond Old Vine Grenache, Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale, South Australia, 2025

Producer Profile

Thistledown was founded by Master of Wine, Giles Cooke who had a vision for a more elegant, textural interpretation of Australian wine.

Initial explorations resulted in access to many of the best vineyards, many of which were the previously unloved Old Vine Grenache. Incredible, historic fruit sources coupled with Giles’ increasingly adept efforts has quickly resulted in a reputation for being amongst the best in the country. Narrating the stories of these wines to an increasingly attentive global audience is Giles’ heartfelt commitment and mission.

Viticulture

Convinced that, of all of the regions of Australia, the greatest potential for greatness is in the McLaren Vale, Thistledown therefore set about finding unique plots throughout the region, looking for specific soil formations that would imbue the Vagabond with finesse, varietal purity and texture and sourced the fruit from 4 separate, old, dry grown, bush trained vineyards in Blewitt Spring, planted in deep sands with some ironstone.

Winemaking

All the fruit was hand picked with each vineyard vinified separately. One vineyard was wild fermented in a concrete pyramid which had layers of whole bunch and crushed fruit. This ferment had no mechanical extraction. The balance was wild fermented in an open fermenter with 25 to 35% whole bunches dependent on vintage, hand plunged twice daily. This portion was aged in puncheons while the pyramid fermented was pressed back to a concrete egg and oak puncheons for maturation.

Tasting Note

This wine possesses a beautifully complex, aromatic nose of violets, wild cherry, rosemary and warming spice. The palate is energetic yet polished and smooth with vibrant cherry, spice, wild strawberry and liquorice on the palate. Medium bodied but multi-layered and textural with a very long, aromatic finish.

Food matching

North African influenced foods, jamon and game.