2022 Vintage

The second year of the current La Nina cycle saw a wild, wet winter and spring followed by a mild summer and a dry autumn. Veraison was two weeks behind normal, setting winemakers' teeth on edge. All were keen to get into vintage but were forced to wait, which made for some very clean wineries prior to harvest. Poor flowering due to wild spring weather including high winds, frost and hail led to lower than desired yields. Quality was good due to the long, slow ripening period. Whites retained great acidity and
reds developed depth of flavour and complex tannins. A vintage to watch!

Hand harvested on the 16th of March and immediately crushed. Fermented in one stainless steel open top fermenter with regular pump overs, 20% whole bunch. Left on skins for 10 days before a gentle press. Settled in tank for 24 days before transfer to an old French oak vat and
two puncheons for malolactic fermentation and extended maturation. Racked twice and bottled without fining, filtration, additions, or adjustment on the 6th September 2023.

Alcohol 14%.
3.23 pH.
Total Sulphur 53ppm.

Flavour Profile: Luxardo, cherry pits, rhubarb, raspberry, and nutty aromas present as a big truck loaded with flavour and headed for your palate without so much as a warning toot of the horn. Reluctant to describe our Grenache as Pinot-like, this vintage sees us reaching for descriptors
that remind us of Pomard: red liquorice, caramelising sugar in a hot pan, and rose water.

Structure & Texture: Hits the palate with force and then flexes its tannins like a Venice Beach bodybuilder. It's a big whack of flavour and texture all at once, with an addictive energy that carries past the back palate before revealing a subtle wave of musk flavours - all without losing sight of a medium-bodied focus.

Cellaring: Many, many years of ageing potential, try 20+.

96+ points - "The 2022 Smart Grenache is, like the Old McDonald Grenache, from a dry-grown bush-vine vineyard, yet this one is from higher climes, up in Clarendon. This area tends to favor darker, deeper wines, and if you ever have the chance to get there, might I politely suggest you bend heaven and earth to do so. It is a stunning part of the world. As for the wine, this is pure and scintillating in its line of red and purple fruits; the spice that colors its edges leans toward star anise, pink peppercorns, a suggestion of mustard seed, saffron and strawberry. The tannins are superb—just superb. They are chewy, ductile and yet ultra fine. This is the kind of Grenache you can really sink your teeth—and heart—into. This is excellent, truly. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap." - Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)

96 points - "From 67-year-old vines in Clarendon. Typically, this is the prettiest of the Pannell non-estate grenache pair, but the 2022 vintage has its say. It was a cool year, but one of particular tannic fortitude. And when paired with an energetic line of acidity, this is a release to hold for a bit. Quality and character stand firm, though. Dried cranberry and raspberry, sour cherry and sumac, rhubarb, burnt orange, toasted cinnamon and rose. It’s all there, just bound up presently, a little nervy, but it will no doubt tumble out in the mid-term. It’s a fine expression more in a nebbiolo state of mind." - Marcus Ellis (Halliday Wine Companion)

96 points - "An excellent vintage, low yielding, cool and attenuated. Scents of spiced Damson plums, wood, berries, graphite and almond husks, with iron notes and tannins in the long, streamlined finish. From a wonderful old-vine site in Clarendon that stretches the possibilities of grenache. Wonderful stuff built for the cellar." - Ned Goodwin (James Suckling)

96 points - "Deep red with a tint of purple and the bouquet is earthy/terracotta, milled pepper, clean leather and other savoury nuances, all joined by sweet cherry and blackberry flavours on the palate. Really quite a smart array of spices, coupled with rich fruit flavours and a serious wave of drying tannins that ride in on the finish. Excellent grenache." - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

95 points - "While the 2022 season seems to have had it all, rain, wind, hail, late flowering, frost, the resulting Pannell grenache wines seem to find great balance even though they seem a little riper, sweet-hearted and softer than some of the previous vintages. This Smart grenache comes, of course, from the Smart vineyard in Clarendon – near 70 year old bush vines grown on siltstone. A portion (20%) of whole bunch makes a mark, lifting things nicely. It feels like a year for S.C. Pannell to lean into whole bunches. Ten days on skins. Really attractive perfume of alpine herbs, almost genepy-like amaro character, sour cherry, faint maraschino cherry, cranberry and rose hip tea. The palate has a good sinewy bite around the more juicy, ripe red and black cherry flavours, some pomegranate juice notes, straight raspberry, more rose hip tea and a dose of Indian fennel candy character too. It’s kind of exotic, in the best sense, but all the elements play superbly together and it feels bright and fresh. Over medium weight, just, with building pucker of Italianate tannin. This is the pick of the 2022s for me, at a pinch, perhaps, but the one I want to drink the most of with its intrigue and complexity on show." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)