Wine Code Breaker #437

Louis Pasteur, the creator of pasteurisation, is said to have described a bottle of wine as containing more philosophy than all the books in the world. Perhaps as a case of one-upmanship, Ralph Waldo Emerson philosophises that a man will be eloquent if you give him a bottle of wine. In both cases, these learned gentlemen would agree that wine is the greatest drink of all and would no doubt salute a glass of wine to Galileo Galilei who described wine as sunlight held together by water. The Greek philosophers would go on step further to simplify this as amphelion – from the sun. Nothing further required.

The 2022 Aphelion Confluence is a Grenache from the Blewitt Springs, a subregion of the McLaren Vale wine region in South Australia. It is a convergence of reds as poured settling into a bright cerise in the glass. The nose is highly aromatic with perfumed red fruits and raspberries. Liquorice and earthen notes add complexity and serious interest. On the palate is where it all comes together – raspberries, forest floor berries, liquorice as black jubes and olive tapenade that all cling easily to the sandy emery board like tannins. The finish is long and lingering yielding much philosophising that is best left unsaid.

Enjoy!