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Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2023
95 Points
Campbell Mattinson

The dry rakes of spice through the pure, ripe fruit. This is another beautiful grenache from the Vinya Vella vineyard. Violets, blueberries, licorice and raspberry characters run with sweet spice and more fresh florals. The tannin here makes the wine stand up straighter. The garden flower aspect gives it an exotic vibe. This is light, bright and impressive, at once, and it’s also delicate.

Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2022

95 Points
Campbell Mattinson

This is a treat. It’s a beautiful grenache. Smoke, red berries, crushed spice and a mix of dried herb, earth and saltbush-like characters do the bulk of the talking but the magic is in the swerve of dry tannin, the way fruit pushes all the way through, and the general air of woodsmoke and meat. There’s a bit to be spellbound by here. Talk about presence, this wine has it in spades.

Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2021
93+ Points
Campbell Mattinson

There’s plenty of heft here but it’s controlled, it’s fresh, and it’s balanced. It’s also only modestly influenced by oak. Black cherry flavours almost make it into plum, or even into red licorice. Sandalwood characters morph into dried herb, and then into leather and orange peel. There’s good tannin here, dry and far-reaching, and a sandy soil aspect, dry and crackling. Alcohol warmth is my only quibble but then, it’s pretty much par for the territory. In so many respects, this is excellent.

Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2024
93 Points
Campbell Mattinson

This is a ripping rose. Wow this is more-ish. Strawberry, red cherry, watermelon and sweet spice notes, with twigs and florals tossed through. It’s a rosé to its back teeth and yet it has an intensity; it makes an impression. It carries beautifully through the finish too. And then notes of chalk and citrus rind seal through the back palate just the deal. This is a pearler of a rosé.

Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2023
93 Points
Campbell Mattinson

There’s a bit more flesh to this 2023 than there was with the 2022, and it’s all the better for it. This is a lovely rosé. Copper-coloured with a hint of crimson, both red cherried and raspberried, tipped with orange-like notes, and both succulent and dry through the finish. It’s scented, dry, juicy and more-ish; everything you’d want in a rosé.

Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2022
90 Points
Campbell Mattinson

New outfit out the Barossa. It started with just one barrel but, thankfully, things are progressing from there. It’s good to see both Bush Vine and Rosé in the name of a wine – or I think so, anyway.

Pale crimson in colour and refreshing in the glass. This is all raspberry, strawberry and earth, though its lightness introduces a cranberried aspect. It doesn’t have a lot of flavour, that said, though it has texture, and that helps to fill it out. We don’t often say this of rosé but another 6-12 months in bottle will be beneficial; it will add just a little more flesh, and it will be all the better for it. For now it works for its dry, squeaky-clean refreshment.

Financial Review Max Allen Reviews

2023 Vinya Vella Old Vine Grenache

For a wine made from low-yielding, very old bush vines, this wine is surprisingly bright, fresh and medium-bodied. Wild-fermented with 33 per cent whole bunches, the rest whole berries, pressed into old puncheons, bottled after 10 months, the wine has a scarlet translucence in the glass, pretty aromatics – rose petals, cinnamon, crunchy red berries – and a shiny red cherry character in the mouth, supported by fine, savoury, dusty tannins. Gorgeous.

2023 Vinya Vella Bush Vine Rosé

This pale, dry rosé is made from younger grenache and mataro vines at Vinya Vella, most planted 30 years ago, some planted much more recently from cuttings taken from the oldest vines on the property. It’s an elegant and savoury expression of the style, with some of the spiciness and prettiness of the red produced from the same vineyard, but less of the intensity and more freshness.

Q Wine Reviews

2023 Vinya Vella Old Vine Grenache
95 points

He's nailed it again. This is a delicate and expressive Grenache from Dylan Griggs's humble Vinya Vella label.

Juicy raspberries are the lead act and you want for nothing more than an encore. Deliciously medium bodied, ripples of blueberries and mulberries muse and are framed by soft spices and a magnificent length that just purrs. A little flash of orange peel teases and adds to the interest as those raspberries do concentric circles around the mouth only to have those spices chase them down. Give me it all - what a beauty!
Drink to five years+

Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2024
93 Points

Made predominantly with Grenache and a splash of Mataro tossed in for good measure, this is a step up from the 2023 release.

It sees 36 hours skin contact and a rose gold appearance is the result. Orange peel and some negroni like things reach forward on an inviting introduction. Bone dry with an attractive creaminess that lies low, there is a red apple crunch following the white strawberry, white cherry and red currant fruit. The textural drive has a gravitational pull calling me back time and again and, to be honest, it is hard to resist the call. A supple and persistent finish caps of a cracking drinking. Find this and you'll be better for it.
Drink now.

Halliday: Best New Winery: The Finalists 2025

"This year we welcome 61 new wineries to the Companion. All the producers nominated for this award are exciting additions either to the Australian wine landscape, to Halliday Wine Companion, or both."

Full Article Here

Halliday: Viticulturist of the Year Shortlist 2024

"There’s a secret weapon in modern Australian wine and his name is Dr Dylan Grigg."

Full Article Here.

The Financial Review: How one man’s mission to save a rundown vineyard won him global renown

"When viticultural expert Dylan Grigg bought his plot of old-vine grenache in the Barossa, it was a mess. Now it’s a destination for travelling winemakers."

Full Article by Max Allen Here.

Jancis Robinson: Australian old-vine Grenache – the next chapter

"A new name to watch for lovers of old-vine and new-wave Grenache"

Full Article by Max Allen Here.

Longer Reads:

Vintage 2023

Here is a nerdy pre-vintage ramble about the Barossa Valley growing season as we waited for the grapes to ripen.

February 2023 - A Viticultural Season to Remember

Vine Vale

Vine Vale is a small area in the eastern section of the Barossa Valley, characterised predominantly by sandy soils and cooling winds from the more elevated Eden Valley. The name Vine Vale is likely linked to its long serving suitability to grape ‘vine’ production since the early 1800’s.

A longer read on the climate, soil and history of Vine Vale.

Winemaking: The Hard Work is Done in the Vineyard

When it comes to winemaking for the Vinya Vella old vine Grenache the approach is simple, catch the fruit as it ripens to make a bright, elegant, lifted and medium bodied wine with texture and clarity.

Read all about our winemaking philosophy here.

Vine Age: Vine Vale is Old, Vinya Vella is Very Old

Grenache is a Jewel, Old Vine Grenache is a Rare Jewel.

Read about our 100+ year old vines here.