Reillys Dry Land Old Bush Vine Grenache 750ml 12 Bottles

 Old Bush Vine Grenache

Reillys 1919 Block is the oldest site within our estate vineyards and one of the oldest within the Clare Valley wine region. The site requires expert viticultural management to ensure ongoing productivity and fruit quality. Cropping is naturally low yield for old vines and this site is no exception with average yields of 1.5T per acre. These old vines are dry grown and require no irrigation apart from natural rainfall, resulting in deep, strong roots that allow the plant to access deeper moisture and more diverse nutrients and minerals.

These vines are steady and reliable and less likely to affected by adverse weather conditions, consistently producing small yields of top-quality fruit year after year. The grapes have concentrated flavours, balanced acidity, and are hand-picked at optimal ripeness.

Hand-picking is required as the vines are not trellised like other grape varieties, instead, they grow as small, low bushes. After handpicking, traditional winemaking methods of open fermentation, hand plunging, and gentle pressing are used to extract maximum flavour and colour from the grapes.

Maturation in French oak hogsheads for 24 months allows flavour and texture development whilst the wine continues to develop in the bottle with careful cellaring for up to 10 years. 

This wine shows sweet lifted aromas of dark fruit, pepper, and liquorice with flavours of cherry, blackberry, and chocolate. Finishing with a silky mouthfeel, firm tannins, and great persistence on the palate.

THE STORY OF REILLYS OLD BUSHVINE GRENACHE VINEYARD

These vines were planted in 1919 by a soldier who returned from WW1 and was allocated this land by the government as part of the Soldier Settlement Scheme. 

This scheme was introduced to repatriate and compensate returned servicemen by allocating parcels of agricultural land throughout Australia.

Being bush vines, they grow low to the ground and are not trellised like many other grape varieties. The fruit is hand-picked not only to ensure the most premium fruit is used, but also because the modern fruit picking machines cannot effectively collect the fruit from these bush vines.