2024 Aphelion Rapture Grenache

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The Rapture is our pinnacle Grenache - created to display the best of what Aphelion and McLaren Vale produces.

NZ$ 226.00

NZ$ 225.00

In any 6 mixed bottles from this Winery

NZ$ 211.00 In any 12 mixed bottles from this Winery

Delivery Included

Taxes, Duties & Insurance Included

Delivery Included

Taxes, Duties & Insurance Included

Minimum 6 mixed bottle purchase per winery, in quantities of 6

Made only in years when we have the required quality of fruit.Goes With Cheese Aged gouda with fruit crackers.Goes With Music Valerie Amy Winehouse.Goes With Life A milestone moment. Or to make an everyday moment unforgettable.Serve At 16-18 degrees Celsius.When to Drink Built to continue evolving through to 2040.Vineyard Sourced from the Hickinbotham Block 301 1971 planted Grenache in Clarendon. The block sits at around 230m above sea level on a gently north facing slope.Winemaking The fruit was hand-picked on the 21st of March. The fruit was destemmed with 20 remaining as whole clusters. After a cool ferment lasting 14 days the fruit was pressed to a 1500L Drunk Turtle cocciopesto a mixture of crushed ceramics and natural aggregates vessel for maturation. The wine was racked and bottled in February 2025. ABV 13.9Production 1100 bottles filled under DIAM Origine cork. Unfined Unfiltered Vegan

More Information

Producer	Aphelion Wine Co
Region	McLaren Vale
Varietal	Grenache
Vintage	2024
Alcohol %	13.9
Wine Style	From a vineyard planted by the Smart family and over the road from the Smarts own vineyard considered amongst the best in McLaren Vale and indeed Australia. The Rapture is a masterpiece painted with a single-hair paintbrush. - Louise Rhodes Mack Co-Founder Owner Operator Aphelion
Reviews	97 points Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion From the Hickinbotham vineyard in Clarendon and the oldest vines contour planted in 1971. This saw a 20 whole-bunch ferment for two weeks before pressing to a cocciopesto Drunk Turtle amphora. Tannin so important in grenache. Natural tannin that is from skins seeds and stems not oak or other intrusions. Its the foundation here silty sandy savoury and quietly coercive. Rhubarb blood orange dried cranberry fading roses sour cherry faint Baharat spicing bergamot and a hint of iris. The 24 Aphelion grenache suite is superb with this vying for line honours. Its academically mid-weight but intense and incredibly long. Its got detail confident ease depth and transparency with a sapid mineral tension to close. Yes yes yes Published Sep 26 202597 points Erin Larkin for Robert Parker Wine AdvocateThe 2024 Rapture Old Vine Grenache Noir will not be released until the end of 2025 and it hails from a very good warm dry vintage. Perhaps in time we will come to remember it as being the precursor to the hot and extremely dry 2025who knows what 2026 will yet bringhowever in context it brought with it different conditions from 2023. And that was welcome. The wine on the nose leads with very pretty ethereal notes rose petals and blood pink musk sticks and graphite too. In the mouth there are notes of cold tea green olive brine and raspberryrhubarb with a gentle pink musk finish. It is a lovely wine. 1100 bottles filled. 13.9 alcohol sealed diner Diam Origine. Published Sept 26 2025 Published Sep 26 202596 points Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine CompanionBlewitt Springs. Brini is 40 of the blend fermented as whole bunches and matured is seasoned puncheons the Wait fruit 60 was destemmed and raised in a 950-litre concrete egg with five and a half months on skins. Pale in the glass this exudes red floral notes over strawberry sour cherry dried cranberry and blood orange with hints of bergamot and rosehip teas. It has the pretty fragrance of the season but is intrinsically savoury in flavour and texture distinctive sandy tannins and peppy freshness carrying the flavours tightly before they fan out impressively on the finish. Excellent with ready appeal but better in a couple of years.96 points David Sly for DecanterThis representation of the best from Aphelion is often a mix of Grenache sites although the 2024 vintage was a parcel selected from the oldest part of the Hickinbotham vineyard not usually used by Aphelion. Rather than creating a monument for the brands flagship wine this is a statement in plush elegance and lively energy. Surprisingly pale and lean in colour it defiantly has a rigid posture and haughty attitude. Matured in large-format old French oak it shows a languid savoury mid-palate that confidently asserts its flavours. Supple tannins play a role to promote an elegant palate shape but dont dominate a savoury finish of immense length and persistence. 96 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review Medium depth red with a lacing of purple there are spice and red fruited aromas the palate is very drying thanks to mouth-coating powdery tannins which tend to dominate the fruit. A big structured wine with classic juicy raspberry grenache fruit also very evident. A bigger style and very smart indeed.96 points Campbell Mattinson for The Wine FrontThis took a good while to come around in the glass and then it was all glory from there. It begs to be either cellared or decanted. Its a wine of power and muscle the latter coming from flavour- and spice-drenched tannin the former built on dark cherry earth leather red roses and cardamom characters. This wine is neither heavy nor dense and yet it feels imposing its firm and complex and silken and once its had a chance to breathe its flavours and textures reach to all corners. It was a slow burn at first but in the end I was blown away. This wine is seriously good.
Bottle Volume	750 ML

Tasting Notes

A vibrant purple hue in the glass. Brooding but fleshy aromatics are laced with an herbal spice note. Tannins are prominent but dont dominate cherry pip flavours wash over the mid palate. A savoury finish with an immense length and persistence. This wine will blossom with some bottle age.

Winemakers Notes

This wine is to showcase the beauty of McLaren Vale Grenache and represents the best barrels of vintage from across the vineyards we work with. Truly world-class. - Louise Rhodes Mack Co-Founder and Owner Operator Aphelion.

Food Pairings

Roasted lamb shoulder mash and jus.