Alkina Old Quarter Barossa Valley Grenache Shiraz Mataro

Based on assiduous soil mapping, analyses and collation and corroboration of data by the world’s eminent authorities, the team at Alkina have deduced the existence of nine diverse subsections of the estate’s vineyard, each its own respective micro-terroir. These are known as Polygons. After extensive deliberation and the culling of parcels within certain Polygons in some instances, three

Polygons were nominated as having the capacity for exultant wines at the very top of the estate’s qualitative hierarchy. The others service the Old Quarter.

Alkina Old Quarter Grenache Shiraz Mataro: hewn of pure, concentrated fruit from the estate’s oldest septuagenarian vines. 50% Grenache, with almost equal parts Shiraz and Mataro. Biodynamic certification, de rigeur. Minimal messing about, defined by an absence of cultured yeasts, enzymes, acid additions, tannin adjustments and the obfuscation of the vineyard’s voice by excessive new oak, the creed. Things are not done in half measures at Alkina, where Grenache is perceived as the Barossa’s finest variety due to its suitability to climate and the predominance of schist over limestone in these parts. Wild fermented in concrete tulips, before maturation in concrete and older French wood, the result is one that bears a chiaroscuro of darker fruited shades, juxtaposed against the weightlessness of red fruited accents melded to a diaphanous latticework of detailed tannins and juicy natural acidity. Plenty of woodsmoke, bergamot, sandalwood, salumi and black olive tapenade, too. A stunning wine, emblematic of what Australia has long been capable of but largely, failed to deliver with this classic blend.

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