Purple Hands 2018 Planta Circa Ancestor Vine Grenache

Some of the oldest original Grenache vines are in the Barossa Valley. The fruit for this fantastic example of Barossa Grenache comes from low yielding, dry grown 140-year old vines from the Zerk Vineyard, Lyndoch in the southern Barossa Valley.
These circa 1880 vines were planted by PF Zimmerman on his family property at ‘Woodlands’ situated on the outskirts of Lyndoch. The site is around 250m above sea level with a Southerly aspect. The soil consists of deep sand over clay. The vines are own-rooted.
The Grenache was hand-picked on 7 March 2018. Around 35% of whole clusters were tipped into open fermenters with the balance crushed on top, header boards were placed on day 2 of ferment. Temperatures were allowed to reach 32C with pump-overs performed 1-2 times daily. After 10 days on skins, the fruit was basket pressed and transferred into older puncheons to undergo malo-lactic fermentation. Post malo the wine was then left 3 weeks before SO2 was added in place, the wine was left on lees and topped regularly. The wine was racked in early December 2018 and underwent a coarse filtration prior to bottling.
The wine has a bright crimson colour with aromas of raspberry, cherry, earth, sweet spice with herbal hints from the whole clusters. The palate is lively and fleshy with tannins giving a crunchy texture. Excellent flavour with persistent sweet red berry flavours combined with a soft gentle finish that gives a wine that you can enjoy now or over the next 10 years.