“A great wine of the present as much as the future. Among Australia's very greatest reds.”
Ned Godwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion
“The balance here is the quiet star…effortless but with latent power. Stunning.”
Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
“…unquestionably world class”
Panel, Halliday Wine Companion
Hosted by Giles Cooke MW, Founder, Owner & Head Winemaker
Masterclass: 4-6pm, 10 Wines with Nibbles, $75
Dinner: 6:30pm, 10 Wines & 5 Courses, $165
Sunday November 17th
“A grenache of high potential.”
Huon Hooke, The Real Review
“…this is a super wine, fragrant and detailed,
long and complex. Yes!”
Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
“There are very few wines that I look forward to
more than the top duo of grenache from Thistledown”
Ned Godwin MW, jamessuckling.com
“raise a glass to the best of the best “
Huon Hooke, The Real Review
“Thistledown is fast-becoming one of the great stories of Oz fine wine”
Madigan Media (Anthony Madigan)
“They rival the very finest in the world.”
Top 100 Wines James Suckling (Ned Goodwin MW)
“Winemaker Giles Cooke MW is somewhat of a folk hero these days, thanks to his work championing the grenache variety.”
’ Best Australian Wines (Matthew Jukes)
Thistledown Story
Today, Thistledown is a Halliday Wine Companion 5 red star winery, a Real Review Top Winery of Australia and a certified member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA). They consistently receive very high scores and praise from the world’s most respected wine writers and publications.
Thistledown is demonstrating that South Australian wine is truly world class - deserving its place on the finest tables and shelves, and in cellars across the world. With Giles Cooke MW responsible for winemaking, his focus on old vines, “picking on-the-way-up”, whole bunch inclusion and wild ferments, has enabled him to faithfully translate site into bottle. The aim is to make wines of great purity, precision and energy rather than a reliance on power, alcohol or oak.
thistledownwines.com
Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke & Fergal Tynan, shared vision for a more elegant, textural interpretation of Australian wine. With access to many of the best vineyards, and winemaking by Giles, Thistledown champions South Australia’s old vine Grenache and have quickly garnered a reputation for being amongst the best in the country.
thistledownwines.com
The Wine List & Menu
1st Course
Grenache Blanc 2024, Our Price $22
Salmon carpaccio, rye crumb, dill cream
2nd Course
‘Thorny Devil’ Old Vine Grenache 2023, Our Price $31
From several districts, off old, dry-grown bush vines. The ferments are all nuanced, but all are wild, and there is always some whole bunch; maturation for eight months in old French oak. Pale in hue and pretty in fragrance, such is the vintage. Flavours skip through cranberry, wild raspberry, pomegranate and rose, with white pepper and cassia, the elevating quality the absence of easy juiciness with no loss of vibrancy. That theme is carried through on the palate, a smartly woven net of tannins ensnaring the fruit, shaping without constricting.
94 Points Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2024)
‘The Vagabond’ Old Vine, Blewitt Springs Grenache 2022, Our Price $51
18.5 Points John Jens
Blewitt Springs, an Australian grand cru equivalent. Old bush vines, as is the wont. Wild fermented with a good portion of whole bunches, some in concrete pyramids without agitation, before ageing in concrete and large neutral oak. Brilliant! Like a slinky, before release over the top step, as aromas and flavors of persimmon, Seville orange, rosehip, pomegranate and impeccably ripe cherry clafoutis unwind and expand with a rattle. Long. A sandy scape of gorgeous tannins. World class.
96 Points Ned Godwin, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2023)
‘She’s Electric’ Old Vine SV Grenache 2023, Our Price $52
From dry-grown old bush vines planted to red-brown sandy loams with quartz and ironstone in Seaview. Wild fermented with 50% whole bunches; eight months in French oak. This is such an aromatically distinctive wine, with all the Thistledown grenache bottlings so keenly differentiated – I would not tire if there were more! Open and perfumed at this early stage, with wild cherry, a garigue-like scrubby note, tart redcurrant, rhubarb and warm brown spices and a depth that belies the immediate fragrance, transparency and pale hue. The balance here is the quiet star, with ripples of texture radiating over the sandy coil of tannin, effortless but with latent power. Stunning.
96 Points Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2024)
White asparagus, sambal butter
3rd Course
‘The Sands of Time’ Blewitt Springs Grenache 2023, Magnums, Our Price $209
From the Trott vineyard in Blewitt Springs, planted in 1952 to deep sand. Fermented in alternating layers of whole bunches and crushed fruit in concrete; maturation in oak and concrete for 10 months. This is coiled but given air, the potential is evident, if not fully revealed. Blue and red floral notes, dark red cherries, orange oil and a humus-like earthiness. This is presently the most reticent member of the ’23 grenache suite, with acidity feeling vigorous against the tensile complement of tannins, both cinching in the fruit presently. Based on the track record and the impeccable framing of fruit and site that’s already evident, this will grow amply in stature, and what an exciting prospect that is.
97 Points Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2024)
‘The Sands of Time’ Blewitt Springs Grenache 2022, Our Price $TBC
18.8 Points JJ
The 2022 Sands of Time Old Vine Single Vineyard Grenache was one of the loveliest Grenaches that I tasted from McLaren Vale last year, and it again presents with a hedonistic display of sweet ripe fruit, supple blood orange inflections on the tannic structure and layer upon layer of flavor and texture. All of the components are enmeshed and present as one. The tannins are again my favorite part of this picture: sandy (Blewitt Springs), pluming, uber-fine and absolutely ever present. This is a big wine but so detailed.
96+ Points Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (September 2023)
Lemongrass chicken, labne, kaffir lime
4th Course
This Charming Man Clarendon Grenache 2023 (Magnum), Our Price $209.
Halliday Grenache & Blend of Year, Wine Companion 2025
Gold – McLaren Vale wine Show 2024
The 2023 The Charming Man Single Vineyard Grenache is altogether moodier and darker than the Sands of Time tasted alongside it, but that is not making a comment on "weight" or "density" but rather on character. Here, we have blackberry and mulberry, raspberry pip and star anise, layers of coal dust, dirt and graphite, clove and even nutmeg/cinnamon. The tannins are über fine, chalky, grippy and gently chewy. It is a wonderful thing to experience the "feel" of the wine as much as the taste. Interacting with red wine in this way—and white as well—makes for thrilling drinking. It curls and winds its way through the long finish. It's super. A pleasure.
98 Points Panel Decision (August 2024)
‘This Charming Man’ Clarendon Grenache 2022 Our Price $TBC
The qualitative apogee when it comes to grenache, rivalled by few and equalled only by Yangarra. Even better than the superb 2021. Sourced from the highest, coolest site in the Vale, the venerable Smart vineyard. Ironstone imparts a ferrous bite to pithy sour cherry, cranberry, campfire, pomegranate, tamarind and sandalwood notes with a touch of white pepper across a lattice of pin bone tannins, curtailing sweetness while pulling this to stunning length. This is so good. Superb! Transparent and brimming with a sense of pinote, like a mini Rayas. A great wine of the present as much as the future. Among Australia's very greatest reds. I don't score above 97, but this could be worth a point higher.
97 Points Ned Godwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2023)
Twice cooked lamb, almond tarator, leafy greens
5th Course
‘The Quickening’ Barossa Syrah 2021, Our Price $TBC
18.6 Points John Jens
Very bright shiraz with berry intensity, together with aromas and flavors crushed stones, asphalt and stone. Full and compact, with transparency and freshness. Red volcanic salt at the end.
93 Points Ned Godwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2022)
‘Where Eagles Dare’ Mattschoss Vineyard Syrah 2021, Our Price$89
18.8 Points John Jens.
Sourced from the Mengler Hill site in Eden Valley. Hand picked and fermented wild in a concrete egg, replete with 20% whole bunches, before transfer to French oak (20% new). A lather of lilac, lavender and aniseed defines a sumptuous nose. Purple fruits and rosewater, the palate, with a creep of tannin growing in gravitas across the back end as the wine opens. This is a delicious, full-weighted expression of considerable class and detail. Top of the totem in the region. The sole caveat, the burn across the throaty finish.
94 Points Ned Godwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2023)