The Treasure Trove is a part of our Firehawk Farm, a single biodynamically run vineyard perched atop an ancient ridge overlooking McLaren Vale the Willunga escarpment and the Gulf St Vincent. Firehawk is our Native Bird of Prey that soars over our vineyards; acting as scarecrow to other birds, rabbits and the like that eat ripening grapes.
Selected bunches were handpicked by family and friends in early March. We gently crushed two thirds of the fruit over whole bunches into open top fermenters. After 7 days of fermentation the wine was basket pressed into French oak barrels, some new and the balance seasoned. This was followed by 18 months maturation with minimal winemaking artefact before bottling, to capture the essence of the vineyard. The wine will reward cellaring and decanting.
This wine is suitable for vegans.
Colour: Red-black in a translucent and pale way; a thin rim edge, yet substance.
Nose: Grenache’s signature juicy-tuity-fruity and red boiled-lolly lushness begins, which immediately meets French oak’s Gallic heady and savoury split personality. The oak bouquet quickly calms down and deeper fruit aromatics of aniseed and fennel, sarsaparilla and rose petal, and sage and lemon thyme waft as if an entire afternoon has passed.
Palate: A mouthful of the rich and the ripe grenache is combined with it’s better alter-ego: the harder greener herbs and the oft elusive tannins (some courtesy of oak) and – importantly – the wellgrown vineyard acidity which keeps the entire grenache parliament in order. Without the acidity, grenache is a cartilaginous rabble. Here it is proud and upright, rather than supine. Tautness, refreshment, a giving nature; yet also fun. Fun, fun, fun..
Drink: The tale of two seasons: chill slightly in the warmer months with barbecued pork or spicy chicken. In the winter – cassoulet. And don’t rule out char-grilled salmon cutlets – the fish’s oiliness and the grenache’s ripe acidity.
Five Red Star Winery: James Halliday 2020 Australian Wine Companion
“This is a highly impressive partnership between Peggy and Carl Lindner, Elena and Zar Brooks and Fiona and Brad Rey. It brings together vineyards spread across the Adelaide Hills, Eden Valley, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and Fleurieu Peninsula. Elena is not only the beautiful wife of industry dilettante Zar Brooks, but also an exceptionally gifted winemaker. It may be a dauntingly competitive marketplace, but there can be few more promising new ventures than this one.”
Gourmet Traveller Wine 2010 Best of the Best Nick Ryan
“Brooks has teamed up with his winemaking wife Elena, a woman whose talents are outweighed only by her tolerance, in an exciting new venture called Dandelion Vineyards. The approach is remarkably simple and sees Elena making wine from a suite of beautiful old vineyards identified by Carl Lindner and Brad Rey across that blessed curve that runs from the Barossa, up through the Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills and down into McLaren Vale. The result is a line-up of wines that show the best in dedicated viticulture and sensitive winemaking, abandoning clutter and artifice for purity and poise.”
