2023 Polygon No. 5
Polygon No. 5 has thrived in this cool year, presenting a darker, brooding nose of crushed rock, red and dark berries and a wild, amaro-inflected spice profile. Opens up slowly and magnificently in the glass, revealing blood orange, pomegranate and dark berry notes on the palate. There’s real presence here – with a silhouette that fills the doorway – and a tannin profile that is perhaps even more integrated at this young stage than in years previous. Energy, tension and a real sense of subtlety in 2023.
Estate grown and made
Certified organic and biodynamic fruit
[VARIETIES] 100% Grenache
[ALC] 14%
[PRODUCTION] 979 bottles
[CELLARING] 10+ years
Light ruby colour. Subtle but enticing aroma of wild strawberry and wild flowers, dark-red-fruited but without sweetness, becoming darker fruited on the palate. Seems red-fruited at first but when you taste it, the wines takes on a darker, more sober, incredibly elegant character. Firm but super-fine, mouth-wateringly dry tannins. Extreme finesse in these fine-grained tannins – paper fine – that give a firm structure without appearing to do so – the tannins do not draw attention to themselves but they are key here, suffused with pure, non-sweet vivacious fruit. A wine of extreme but restrained beauty and impressive length. An object lesson in intensity without power. Remarkable what can be achieved in a 'challenging' year, perhaps because of it. 14% Drink 2027 – 2038.
18.5/20 Points, Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
The 2023 Polygon 5 Grenache is from the same vineyard block as the Polygon 3 Grenache (grown on a pocket of limestone), so it really highlights the distinction between the two. The vines here are 70 years old and grown on a schist soil profile, with weathered clay. This imbues the wine with density and power. It is more darkly colored in the glass. Here, the fruit and tannins are singularly more robust than the Polygon 3, yet it streams and cascades across the palate, providing more chew and shape. This is earthy yet pure, and it is herbal as well. You also get flavors of raspberry pip, watermelon, licorice root, cold black tea, moss and wet concrete. It's complex and kaleidoscopic, lovely. I think I prefer the febrile, diaphanous nature of the Polygon 3, but it is only a matter of preference/taste. These are both superlative Grenache examples. 14% alcohol, sealed under natural cork. 979 bottles filled.
96 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Spicy, lifted and perfumed aromas of citrus peel, raspberries, rose petals, red currants, cloves and fresh thyme. The palate is tactile and pure, with a plush and rounded mouthfeel that is framed by focused and intertwined tannins that lead into a mineral-edged finish supported by plush red fruit and a ferric undertone. Made from 70-year-old vines grown on shist, clay and ferrous earth, with 80% whole-cluster fermentation and then aging in concrete. Drink or hold.
96 Points, Ryan Montgomery, jamessuckling.com
Medium-depth of red-purple colour, bright and clear, the bouquet showing darker red fruits, raspberry to cranberry, with some ironstone and earthy peppery notes, the palate medium bodied but with quite assertive tannins that grip the tongue early but finish smoothly. Hints of cola in the aftertaste. There's a nice touch of fruit sweetness and the finish is very long and supple.
96 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
