The Cooter & Cooter Grenache 2024 is a bright, medium-bodied McLaren Vale red built on red fruit and perfume rather than weight. Sourced from estate vines at Whites Valley planted in 1960, with a small portion of whole bunches in the ferment, it is fragrant and light on its feet while still carrying the warmth you expect from the region.

Raspberry, red cherry and pomegranate lead the aromatics, with dried herbs, orange peel and a lick of clove and pepper from the stems. The palate follows the nose closely: sappy red fruit, a touch of rhubarb, and a savoury undertow that keeps the sweetness of ripe grenache in check.

Tannins are fine and powdery, more silk than grip, and the acidity runs clean through the middle. A windy flowering in spring cut crop levels in 2024 and a March heat spike concentrated things further, which shows here as intensity of flavour rather than heaviness. The finish is dry, spicy and lingering.

Serve it with a light chill alongside roast duck, lamb skewers with sumac, mushroom risotto, jamón and manchego, or a slow-cooked pork shoulder. It is versatile enough to handle a spice-driven tagine without losing its lift.

Drinking well now and through to about 2032, with the fruit and structure to reward five years in the cellar for those who prefer more savoury development.