You know my magpie brain was instantly drawn to this label...how pretty?

"Menagerie (n.) – a strange or diverse collection of people or things". One of the things that makes sunrise worth looking forward to is watching people's joy in exploring the world. Winemaking included. There's something special about seeing winemakers still enjoying exploring and experimenting...even when they have a perfectly successful recipe in their back pocket. This is what the Menagerie range represents - Thorne & Daughters "insatiable need to tinker with new things" which "sometimes leads to some orphaned barrels which don’t fit any of the molds...". And I am delighted to be able to share in their exploration and experimentation of new vineyards, varietals and techniques.

The Wine:

A pungent nose of real orange blossoms on a tree, lemon oil, lemon verbena, ripe nectarines and just a little pineapple. There’s some umami, light kelp, and metallic minerality behind the fruit.

Vibrant! From the acidity, to the lemon and lime fruit profile. Salinity balances the acidity and soothes the bitter grapefruit peel texture...there’s also a waxiness about this. Gosh...this has a long finish that recaps the lime, delivers the peaches and ripe apricots, hints at a nutty flavour, introduces herbal chamomile, and has you craving the next sip. It settles into a pear finish after a few hours.

Vini + Viti:

100% Vermentino grapes from from Stellenbosch, fermented and matured for 10 months in older oak.

Final Thoughts:

It’s lovely enough the next day, but I’d say finish this within a day. It loses some of its electric primary intensity by the following day....but there’s a sense of old oak usage that becomes more visible on day 2.

I picked this up from the lovelies at Vino Pronto who, by now, probably knew I’d head straight for this brightly coloured bottle whilst cooing ‘ooo, what is this’!

Find the Wine:

www.thorneanddaughters.com though, as mentioned, I picked this up from VinoPronto.