$28.00
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Region: McLaren Vale, SA
Grapes: Grenache, Shiraz, Mataro, Cinsault, Carignan
First Glance: Medium-bodied, Crunchy Red Fruit, Herbs, Spice
Acclaim: 94 points
The Wine:
JUNTO (Spanish, Portuguese): ‘Together’, AKA The Bondar GSM+, if you will. A Southern Rhone style blend that is intended to be unpretentious and an easy to drink, bistro style. The Grenache leads the blend with its pretty red fruits and perfume, and the other varieties help to 'complete' the wine, elevating it to a more complex and balanced place. The main contributors to this are the Shiraz which adds flesh, and the Mataro which gives savoury spice and some structure. The Cinsault contributes high-toned red fruit flavours and lightness from its 11% alcohol, and the Carignan gives deeper, darker flavours with a beautiful herby lift and structure. The wine is aged entirely in old French oak hogsheads to allow gentle micro-oxygenation without contributing any overt oak flavour.
The Review:
Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion - 94pts
"This is 65/16/8/8/3% grenache/shiraz/mataro/cinsault/carignan. It feels even finer and more elegant than prior. A cool year, yes, but it feels like evolution, too. Either way, what a charming thing it is, redolent of blue and red florals, just-picked wild raspberry and bright-red cherries, along with hardy Mediterranean herbs. It’s not just about front, though, with a fine and complex netting of natural tannin and a vivid line of acidity. What elevates it is skipping the easy path of pulpy frivolity for a gastronomic architecture and lightness of feel."
