2024 Bulman Glen's Vineyard Grenache
Region: Springton, Eden Valley, South Australia, Australia
Grape: 100% Grenache
Vineyard Practice: Sustainable, Vegan
Culinary Suggestions: Char Siu Pork, Miso-Glazed Salmon, Thai Duck Red Curry, Roasted Duck
Alcohol: 13.9%
Bottle Size: 750ml
The 2024 Glen's Vineyard Grenache by Mark Bulman is a compelling expression of Eden Valley's terroir. Crafted from dry-grown vines planted in 1857, this wine offers a harmonious blend of red fruit, spice, and earthy undertones, underpinned by fine tannins and vibrant acidity. Its nuanced profile makes it an excellent companion to a variety of Asian dishes.
Overview
Mark Bulman is a distinguished Australian winemaker celebrated for his transformative work with Grenache. His career began with a winemaking degree in 2006, followed by international experience in Germany and New Zealand. In 2009, he returned to South Australia to join Turkey Flat Vineyards in the Barossa Valley, where he served as chief winemaker from 2010 to 2021. During this tenure, he earned acclaim for refining Grenache, notably winning the 2017 Jimmy Watson Trophy for the 2016 Turkey Flat Grenache—the first time a varietal Grenache received this honor.
Inspired by a subsequent trip to Gigondas in France's Southern Rhône, Bulman launched his own label, Bulman Wines, focusing on Grenache that emphasizes site expression and elegance. His 2023 debut releases include two single-vineyard Grenaches: Glen’s Vineyard from Eden Valley and Gary’s Vineyard from McLaren Vale's Blewitt Springs. Both wines are crafted with minimal oxygen exposure and aged in sandstone amphorae to preserve purity and terroir.
Glen's Vineyard, situated at 390 metres altitude in the Eden Valley, features thin loam over red-brown clay and sandstone, interspersed with micaceous schist fragments. The vineyard's unique position in the rain shadow of the Mount Lofty Ranges contributes to its distinctive microclimate. The 2024 vintage, characterised by warmer and drier conditions, yielded grapes with concentrated flavours and structural depth.
The winemaking process involved 9% whole bunch fermentation, 14 days on skins pre-ferment, an 8-day ferment, and 55 days on skins post-ferment. The wine was then aged for 182 days in a sandstone amphora, enhancing its textural complexity and preserving its purity.
Critic Reviews
96 points
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front June 2025
As per last year, I’m scoring both the Bulman grenache releases the same. They are of equal quality. But some are more equal than others.
I’ve gone through two bottles of this and half-way through the first, I started texting people. It’s one of those wines; it gets you excited; a few glasses in and you want to start shouting about it. If this was the house wine at LinkedIn, all the doom-and-gloom talk about the state of the wine industry here and abroad would stop in an instant. We live in exquisite wine times, we must, because here it is. The licorice notes here are black, the earth notes are red, the spices and tobacco-like characters have a russet glow. The Eden Valley is a great place. They have boulders there, great big rocks, jutting. These rocks give the wines a perfume, a rise, a loveliness, an endless hello. It’s the smile you can never say no to. In this wine the raspberry notes feel bright; the violet notes are fresh; the tannin is a soft blanket on stone. I really think that this wine is pretty sensational. Put it this way: with the Gary’s I’m 95/96, and fell on the latter. On this Glen’s I’m 96/97. On the first bottle I nearly got RSI from tipping the bottle up, begging for one drop more.
Buy this. You’ll never regret it.
Drink 2027 - 2036+