2023 Kin Grenache
The Kin Grenache feels energetic and floral, but give it time and red fruit, blood orange and cardamon will present. A patch of vines on limestone provides vibrancy and definition, necessary for the wine’s drive, with flesh and power from Blocks 22 on clay and 18 on schist.
Estate grown and made
Certified organic and biodynamic fruit
[VARIETIES] 100% Grenache
[ALC] 13.5%
[PRODUCTION] 1500 dozen
There is quite a bit of buzz around for Alkina Wines. It's all about good farming and detail. It's like bonsai winemaking, three blocks of grenache on the same property, two (clay and schist) provide the flesh and power, the other, off limestone, the drive. The vinous valence here is undeniable. Spacious and filigreed with pristine red fruits, gingerbread, amaro herbs, blossom and exotic spice. Just beautifully composed with tension and transparency.
94 Points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
I’ve written before about this remarkable vineyard and its painstaking approach to producing small parcels of wine from various micro-terroirs across the property; it’s also a previous winner at the Vineyard of the Year (VOTY) Awards, taking out the “Groundbreaker” gong for innovative viticulture in 2021. Marco Simonit and his team have recently started advising here on vine architecture and pruning techniques, to set the younger blocks up for a long and fruitful life. This gorgeous grenache is made from predominantly young(ish) vines and is full of life and energy: pretty perfume of spice and blood orange and red fruit, lots of powdery fine tannin and savoury finesse in the mouth.
Max Allen, Australian Financial Review
A fragrant, more balletic iteration of mid-weighted Barossan grenache. Transparent, a little lighter, a tad verdant and more febrile than recent years. Strawberry, sapid and attractively sour, muddled with white pepper,
92 Points, Ned Goodwin MW, jamessuckling.com
The heart is sweet but it’s all savoury from there. Indeed such is the array that it’s hard to know where to start: sweet plum, red licorice and boysenberry move quickly towards saltbush, woodsy spice, potpourri and sweet earth. It’s juicy and lacy at once, the finish beautifully composed, the carry of the finish satisfying and then some.
92 Points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Raspberry and rosemary on the nose lead into a sappy core. Raspy tannins balance the ebullient swathe of red berries, suggesting there might be some whole bunches in the fermentation. This is a lively grenache with interest.
90 Points, Gabrielle Poy, The Real Review
The 2023 Kin Grenache is fragrant, bright, crunchy and edgy, with graphite, black tea and coal dust in profusion. This is not the fleshy, succulent wine that was the 2022 Kin Grenache (and thank goodness for vintage variation keeping things interesting, let's be honest). This is ultimately more lean, mineral and spicy in its expression. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
90 Points Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
