Ulithorne produces small quantities of red wines from selected parcels of grapes from its estate vineyard in McLaren Vale, planted in 1950 by Bob Whiting. These rare and high-quality wines are crafted to always consider the fruit first – ensuring that the final wine celebrates all that is unique in the flavours and structure of the fruit taste, as it ripens in the vineyard.

Dark cherry, mulberries and spices on the nose. A rich, juicy palate of dark cherry, wild berries and fine savoury tannins. A combination of hand and machine harvested fruit, fermented in small opens with twice a day plunging. The components of this blend were then matured in French barrels for twelve months prior to blending and bottling.

35% Grenache, 33% Shiraz, 32% Mourvèdre

This is splendidly ripe and perfumed with dark berry, vanilla, olive and cedar notes, leading to a plush mouthfeel that's succulent and mouthfilling. Gorgeously harmonious with a lengthy velvety finish. At its best: now to 2031. Date: Aug 2021; Rating: 94 Points; Sam Kim; Wine Orbit

Sourced from a single vineyard in the Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale, where the soil is ‘sand over clay’. The team made the decision to crush the Shiraz, but the Grenache was included as whole bunches. The split is 35% Grenache, 33% Shiraz and 32% Mourvèdre. The juice spent 12 days on skins, before pressing directly to American and French barrels and hogsheads, and then a further twelve months barrel maturation. Deep red, there are notes of strawberries and other red fruits. There is a lovely creamy coffee character to all this. Attractive florals. A mid-weight style, which is carried by some fresh underlying acidity, this seems to be very much Grenache-dominant at the moment. Time might see the other grapes contribute as well. A lighter, fresher style of GSM, which is delicious. Good value. Date: Feb 2022; Price: $30.00; Rating: 90 Points; Ken Gargett; Wine Pilot