The James Suckling Top 100 Wines for 2023 list has been released, with Yangarra Grenache McLaren Vale Ovitelli 2021 taking out first place.
James Suckling Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW described the wine as “glorious”.
“Grenache is the most exciting thing that has happened in Australia in generations,” he added.
Yangarra Estate, in South Australia’s McLaren Vale, joined the Jackson Family Wines portfolio in 2001. At its helm is winemaker Peter Fraser (pictured main), who has an unwavering commitment to crafting wines that authentically capture the unique character of the single-vineyard estate.
According to the winery, the Ovitelli is the most perfumed and elegant Grenache from the sands at Yangarra. The vibrant fruit from 1946 bush vines spends a whole autumn on skins as it ages in egg-shaped ceramic vessels.
“Grenache is oxidative, and it can be clumsy, and ceramic brings purity, finesse and tightness, so it’s a marriage made in heaven,” Fraser recently explained to The Drinks Business.
“We have stumbled across something that really works.”
It’s been a year of accolades for Yangarra Grenache. At the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion Awards, Yangarra Old Vine Grenache 2021 was announced as Wine of the Year, with a score of 99 points.
Yangarra was also listed at number two in the Halliday Wine Companion’s inaugural Top 100 Wineries of 2023 list.
As for the rest of the Top 100 Wines of Australia 2023, Goodwin said the country’s isolation “breeds fearless creativity”.
“At the Top 100 level … excellence is determined by those wines that announce themselves with a thunderclap of amazement before a lightning strike of such beauty that it is almost ineffable. In essence, these are wines that wow us because they ask us how a seemingly simple sum of place, grape and craft can render such profundity.’
The James Suckling Aussie top 5
- Yangarra Grenache McLaren Vale Ovitelli 2021
- Alkina Grenache Barossa Valley Polygon No. 3 2020
- Thistledown Grenache McLaren Vale This Charming Man Old Vine Clarendon 2021
- Eastern Peake Chardonnay Ballarat Two Mile Hill 2021
- Mount Mary Yarra Valley Quintet 2021
View the full 100 here.
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