A tip of the hat to McLaren Vale’s historic blending of Grenache and Shiraz, Paralian’s beautiful rendition poses the question – are blends better than the sum of their parts? I don’t know for certain, but this is a thoroughly complete wine, gourmand and versatile. The blend goes beyond the grapes. Flavours are familiar, regional, but the invigorating freshness and tannic squeeze are decidedly European. Australian wines are far more likely to have soft, fine or silky tannins, but rich, framing tannins of genuine presence are one of the last frontiers in the maturing of Australian wine.
Vintage 2020 is an excellent, albeit tiny one, due to drought, frost and a short burst of summer heat. Before tasting the 2020 Paralian wines, I assumed they would be fruit sweet, big and jubey perhaps, with soft sandy tannins. I was delightfully wrong. Evocative briary aromatics, a compote of blueberry, mulberry, boysenberry, plum, milk chocolate and violets. Beautiful, palate absorbing shape, generous and quite full bodied, yet athletic and lithe. Sunkissed fruit, utterly Australian, but European in its suavity and grip. Complex textural profile, mouthwatering and sleek, a coolness that drives the sweet fruit and black olive tannins.
Paralian Blewitt Springs Grenache Shiraz 2020
