Wine: Journey’s End Wild Child Grenache Rose

Country: South Africa

Region: Western Cape

Designation: W.O. Coastal

Producer: Journey’s End

Grape Varietal: Grenache

ABV: 12.50%

Type: Rose

Code: 8510

Tasting Note 

A refreshing, delicate and juicy rosé. Salmon pink in colour with succulent strawberry, cherry and raspberry flavours enhanced with rose petal and orange blossom aromas. The palate is dry and rounded with crisp acidity.

Producer

In 1995 the Gabb family, originally from Shropshire, UK, fell in love with a picturesque wine farm called Journey’s End and restored it to what it is today, now surrounded by 40 hectares of beautiful vineyards.

The Journey’s End vineyards are nestled amongst the Schapenberg hills, where lies 350 million year old decomposed granite soils are one of the most prestigious terroirs in South Africa. The vineyards benefit from the cooling and cleansing south-easterly wind, known locally as the ‘Cape Doctor’, which comes in from nearby False Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Winemaking

This wine is made entirely from dry-farmed Grenache grown on north-facing shale slopes and picked when the sugars were low. After arrival at the cellar, the whole bunches are hand-selected before the crushed berries are transferred into a stainless-steel tank. After crushing, the grapes undergo a three-hour skin contact to ensure a balanced combination of flavour and colour extraction from the grape skins.

Fun Fact

Grenache is not one of the most popular grapes in South Africa and it is usually found in a Rhone style blend like Journey’s End Huntsman Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre. Selected Grenache vines at Journey’s End were found to be exceptionally juicy with well-balanced acidity and it was decided to try making a Rose… thus the Wild Child was launched with a deliciously frivolous interpretation of the Rhone grape.

Food pairing

Ideal for sipping solo this well-balanced wine pairs well with appetizers and light summer dishes.

Awards & Accolades

4.0 Vivino

Matthew Jukes “I am a massive fan of Journey’s End and I have written their wines up in my various columns, for years.”

Terry Kirby (The Independent UK) “A lovely, light, elegant grenache rose, full of strawberry and raspberry flavours, with some hints of peaches and other stone fruits. More of the same, please...”