Ministry of Clouds McLaren Vale Silk & Stone Grenache 2023

Variety:GrenacheCountry, Region:South Australia,McLaren Vale

Coming from vines planted 1922 (bush vines) in dark loam over ironstone and clay in Clarendon on a steep south facing site. Hand picked with a little whole-bunch in the ferment and kept on skins for 3 and a half weeks with daily hand plunging and aged on gross lees for 7 months in old French oak puncheons before bottling in December 2023.

‘Smart Vineyard. Raspberry, cherry, spice box, almond, roses, a stony thing, roast red capsicum and paprika. Medium-bodied, fine dusty and powdery texture, crushed rocks, cool acidity, succulence of red fruits, but also tight and stony. Superb finish. Such texture, but with flavour. Precise. This is a banger. Drink 2025-2033+.’ 96 Points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, November 2025.

‘The 2023 Silk & Stone Single Site Grenache is from the Smart vineyard, picked across two different picks (a week apart), and only five hundred liters was made. The vines are the 1922 plantings, the oldest part of the vineyard. This is the highest-elevation Grenache vineyard in Clarendon, right up against the Adelaide Hills. Aromatically, the wine is loaded is baking spices: cinnamon cassia, fresh grated nutmeg, distant clove and star anise, ash, incense and lavender. The soils up in Clarendon are heavier than down in Blewitt Springs, for example, yet the elevation allows for a distinct perfume. In the mouth, the wine is full of raspberry and strawberry, redcurrants and red apple skins. The tannins are of course the highlight here for me: lacy, gently gritty and profuse. It’s chewy, and I like that. This is a lovely, wispy wine. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink 2024-2038.’ 95 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, September 2024.

After almost three decades shared experience inthe wine industry, Bernice Ong and Julian Forwood decided to have a crack at their own (ad)venture.For them, Ministry of Clouds represents the relinquishing of past security and structure for thebeguiling freedom and independence inherent in this, their own voice.

They seek fruit from distinguished vineyard sites mostly in McLaren Vale, but also in the Clare Valley for a crystalline expression of Riesling and across the Bass Strait for a flinty and somewhat wild expression of a Tasmanian Chardonnay. Their reds revel in Grenache, Shiraz, Mataro and Tempranillo fruit from a variety of mature vineyard sites through McLaren Vale, some up to 90 years of age.

Ministry of Clouds produce classic wines that show careful attention to detail, wines that speak of the land, that reveal the essence of the season; wines with perfect ripeness yet showing some tension, restraint and poise complete with crunchy texture, delicate balance and a somewhat modest built.They are wines that beg to be shared on a convivial table consumed with various foods, flavours and textures.