Alkina 2019 Grenache Polygon No. 5 Barossa Valley 750ml

Pedro Parra had never seen a combination of limestone and schist like Alkina's anywhere in the world. The Chilean terroir scientist — one of the most sought-after soil consultants in fine wine — was brought to the northern edge of Greenock, in the Barossa Valley, by Alejandro Bulgheroni, the Argentinian billionaire wine entrepreneur who owns twenty-one wine properties across six countries, including two in Bordeaux and one in Napa Valley. What Bulgheroni had purchased in 2015 was a 60-hectare farm that included six hectares of vines planted by a member of the Kalleske family seventy years earlier — old-vine Grenache, Shiraz, Mataro, and Semillon rooted in soil derived from 700-million-year-old Pre-Cambrian rock, among the oldest terroir on earth.

Parra's instruction to winemaker Amelia Nolan was direct: don't blend these lots together to make the best possible wine. Vinify each parcel separately, by soil and rock type, and let each one speak for itself. The result is the Polygon Project — a series of single-block wines, each one named for the specific geological parcel it comes from. Polygon No. 5 is sourced from a single 0.37-hectare plot defined by schist with veins of iron-rich clay — deeper, more mineral-driven ground than its sibling Polygon No. 3. Certified organic and biodynamic, 80 to 100% whole bunch, fermented and aged for nine months in a single 500-liter concrete cylinder. No new oak. No synthetic additions. Nothing to get between the wine and the rock it came from.

Huon Hooke, the veteran Australian wine writer, ranked the 2019 Polygon No. 5 the #1 wine of 53 Grenache from the Barossa Valley that vintage — "medium-full red-purple colour with a savoury, ironstone-like bouquet, an earthy, rocky minerality, the palate immensely powerful and focused, concentrated and long, with masses of mouth-coating tannins." Wine-Searcher's aggregate puts the vintage at 95 points. Langtons calls it "akin to a Châteauneuf on galets, rather than one on sand — a powerful wine juxtaposed against an uncanny lightness of being." This is Grenache built like nothing else in the Barossa — proof that a single half-hectare of 700-million-year-old rock can produce a wine of genuine, singular identity.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Alkina Wine Estate sits on the northern edge of Greenock, in the Barossa Valley, on a 60-hectare property purchased in 2015 by Alejandro Bulgheroni — the Argentinian wine entrepreneur whose international portfolio spans 21 properties in six countries. Bulgheroni retained Pedro Parra, the Chilean terroir scientist and soil consultant, and Alberto Antonini, the globe-trotting Italian oenological consultant, and employed South Australian winemaker Amelia Nolan to manage the property. The estate includes six hectares of vines planted roughly seventy years ago by a member of the Kalleske family — Grenache, Shiraz, Mataro, and Semillon — alongside eighteen additional hectares planted since under the same varieties.

The defining feature of Alkina's approach is geological precision applied at a scale almost no other producer in the world attempts. Parra mapped the property by soil and rock type and instructed Nolan to vinify each distinct parcel separately rather than blend them — the genesis of the Polygon Project, a series of single-block wines each named for the specific geological unit it represents. The soils derive from 700-million-year-old Pre-Cambrian rock — an extraordinarily old terroir featuring a combination of limestone and schist that Parra had never previously encountered anywhere in the world, along with degraded schist clay and patches of calcrete limestone.

Polygon No. 5 comes from a single 0.37-hectare plot on deeper, more schistous soils with rivets of iron-rich clay — distinct from Polygon No. 3's limestone-and-schist plot. The fruit is certified organic and biodynamic, picked from old vines, with 80 to 100% whole-bunch inclusion in fermentation. The wine is fermented and matured in a single 500-liter concrete cylinder for nine months — concrete rather than oak, preserving the fruit and terroir character without imparting wood influence. No new oak is used anywhere in the Polygon Project, and no synthetic additions manipulate the wines at any stage.

Critics Reviews

Huon Hooke — #1 of 53 2019 Grenache from Barossa Valley:
"Medium-full red-purple colour with a savoury, ironstone-like bouquet, an earthy, rocky minerality, the palate immensely powerful and focused, concentrated and long, with masses of mouth-coating tannins."

Wine-Searcher aggregate — 95/100 (2019 vintage)

Langtons (2019 vintage):
"Raspberry bon bon, pepper grind, lavender and thyme, as if an expression of a unique version of Australian garrigue. The tannins, burlier here, are swabbed with tapenade as they expand with air. For comparison's sake, this is akin to a Châteauneuf on galets, rather than one on sand. A powerful wine juxtaposed against an uncanny lightness of being."

Vinous (2020 vintage, Ned Goodwin MW, for context on house style — confirmed at the Alkina Grenache Assembly tasting):
"96 points. Very good domestic expression. Sweet red fruit and orange pastille a la pinot, mitigated by dried thyme, lavender and a clench of Nebbiolo-like tannins drawing the finish long and taut. Excellent grenache."

The Real Review (Decanter contributor David Sly, program context):
"Rising high above the ordinary are a suite of meticulous wine producers, led by Alkina."

Tasting Profile

Nose
Medium-full red-purple — the schist and iron-rich clay terroir producing a color of genuine depth from old, low-yielding vines. The nose opens with a savoury, ironstone-like quality unique to this specific plot — earthy, rocky minerality leading before the fruit fully emerges. Raspberry bon bon and salted redcurrants follow with vivid, slightly savoury red fruit. Pomegranate adds tart brightness. Pepper grind, lavender, and thyme combine into what Langtons calls "a unique version of Australian garrigue" — a Mediterranean herbal complexity rarely found in Australian Grenache.

Palate
Immensely powerful and focused — concentrated and long, with masses of mouth-coating tannins that mark this as a structurally serious wine despite Grenache's reputation for lighter, more delicate expression. The fruit is wild and darker in complexion than typical Barossa Grenache — layered, earthy, supple, buoyant, and spicy all at once. The tannins, burlier than its Polygon No. 3 sibling, are swabbed with a tapenade-like savoury quality that expands with air. Tension runs throughout — assertive, focused tannins that never intrude on or impede the flow of fruit.

Finish
Long and taut, with masses of mouth-coating tannin carrying the close. The combination of power and an "uncanny lightness of being" — Langtons' precise paradox — defines the finish: structurally serious yet never heavy.

Quick Overview

Food Pairings

• Beef and venison — the classic Grenache pairing, especially suited to this wine's structure
• Lamb with herbs — the garrigue character finding a natural mirror
• Charcuterie and tapenade-driven dishes
• Aged hard cheeses