Vinya Vella began with an old vineyard and just one wine, one ferment and one big barrel. They have continued to keep it simple, focus on their strengths.

The fruit for the Vinya Vella Old vine Grenache is managed carefully and with detail all season long. Starting at pruning Dr Dylan Grigg works to the capacity of each vine, they select the strongest shoots in spring and adjust light and airflow with leaf and bunch removal, all by hand. All these processes take time, detail and attention to get the best fruit they can each year.

The Old Vine section of the block is mapped each year vine by vine to identify the relative health, balance and phenology. This is used to harvest sections at the time when the fruit is ripening but before it hangs and gets too ripe. Harvest is selected through vine by vine observation and guided by multispectral aerial imaging.

Vinya Vella is made with the assistance of a great inspiration and friend in Peter Schell (of Spinifex fame) less than 2km from the vineyard. Together Dylan and Peter work minimally to capture all that is unique to these old own rooted bush vines on deep sand. The style may change as the vineyard improves and they learn more, try new things and grow, and also as they explore the best way to manage these vines and the fruit they produce. This is the exciting part of the Vinya Vella journey, global experience and local soil.

This wine is only in very small quantities, get in touch for the chance to share this vineyard and the story of growing through a bottle.

Winemaking:
•    Harvested on 2 dates, 14th March and 25th March 2022
•    First harvest was from the deeper sand to the back of the block, second harvest was from the middle of the block. 
•    Both parcels were treated the same, hand picked and put into 1500L stainless open-top fermenter.
•    Layered ferment - 33% De-stemmed, 33% Whole bunch and the remainder De-stemmed on top.
•    Wild ferment began spontaneously, juice was racked over the top of the tank from the bottom once ferment began. Gentle cap submersion mid ferment after 8 days on skins when the ferment was slowing juice was drained off, the whole bunches were foot stomped and the skins and bunches were pressed to tank to finish fermentation.
•    Once dry the wine was transferred into old oak puncheons and left until bottling. Bottling occurred 11 months later.

Winespecs:
•    3.45pH
•    4.8g/l acidity
•    S02 at bottling
•    Unfined and unfiltered
•    Diam closure

Alc/Vol: 14.0%