Saturday, January 6, 2018

Agathist Alchemy Grenache

The Barossa region has the longest history of wineries in Australia, but there are also many new and exciting developments such as Ruggabellus, Sami-Odi, Head, and others. A couple of ex Torbreck winemakers have also ventured out on their own: David Powell, of course, and then there is Chris Isbel, the long time Torbreck winemaker. Agathist is Greek and means all things move towards the greater good. Let's test this with his 2013 Agathist Alchemy Grenache.

This wine is made from grapes of the Seppeltsfield subregion, where many old Grenache vineyards flourish, and are used in the Seppeltsfield port wines.

Lets start with the positives. There was generous fruit in this wine, and the tannins are soft and smooth. However, this is overshadowed by the rapid ageing of this wine. Clearly, the grapes have been picked quite late. The wine has been made with minimal intervention, and in this case, this has lead to a mouthfeel of overripeness. Chris Isbel points out that this so called 'First Wine' is for early drinking, but I am surprised that it has developed so much by year four. This wine has not moved to 'good'. It is clearly past its best drinking window. If you have this wine in your cellar, you must drink it inow.

Score: 82/--

1 comment:

James said...

This is a very sweet and tasty wine.I am drink and feel wooowwwwwww.
Wine Clubs Australia