I expected, for good or ill, that this Blewitt Springs release would be the more obvious of Mark Bulman’s new duo of grenache wines, which in hindsight was a ridiculous expectation. The other release of the two (from the Eden Valley) is reviewed here. In any case this Blewitt Springs rendition is the more reserved, even surly, of the two. Or it is at first; given about an hour in my tasting glass, it stopped taking no for an answer. This is from a vineyard that was first planted in 1974, but to grenache in 2007. The winemaking: “9 day ferment, 71 days on skins post ferment. 178 days in a sandstone amphora.”

This wine. This wine. It didn’t have me at hello but, once I’d sat with it for a bit, I never wanted it to leave. This is an instant entrant into the top tier of Australian wine. It’s tannic. It’s meaty. It’s like a pound of chestnuts set into coal, all sweet nuts and woodsmoke, forest berries and leaves. It presents as one complete whole. If you ever wanted an argument for grenache sans oak, this is the last one you’d ever need to hear. It makes the unplugged seem definitive. It does argue its case, it presents it. Tannin-wise it’s completely unafraid of upsetting anyone; it just does what it wants, and what it wants is both ribboned and imposing. It’s superbly long but then, it’s superb throughout. -97pts, Campbell Mattinson for The Wine Front

From 17-year-old vines on the Springs Hill Vineyard in Blewitt Springs planted to sands with yellow clay and ironstone conglomerate. This saw 7% whole bunch, a 9-day ferment and 71 days on skins post ferment, then 178 days in a sandstone amphora. It’s a complex thing, with air unlocking layer after layer of detail. Freshly crushed bay laurel, dried cranberry, pickled cherries, orange peel, fading rose petals, bitter red aperitivo and mountain herbs, rolling into dry-warmed spices – cassia, clove and pepper – pink peppercorn, goji and sumac. It’s finely tooled, decidedly and energetically tannic, but not wantonly so, rather they’re schooling, channelling tannins, resolute in direction, the fruit intensity knit within. It’s very fine indeed. -97pts, Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion