2025 RAYNER VINEYARD GRENACHE

The Rayner Grenache has always been sourced from a small east-facing parcel of our 1970 plantings. This is the least vigorous section of the block, it’s entirely dry-grown and receives the least amount of natural rainfall/run off. In 2025, conditions were exceptionally dry, and by November it was clear this section of the site had very little crop. We expanded our selection to include some of the adjacent vines, which normally are higher yielding and go into the Junto blend. But in such a dry year these vines more closely resembled the ones we typically draw from for the Rayner Grenache. Even so, yields were significantly reduced- around 50% below average. So for the first time, this wine also includes fruit from younger vines: around 30% from 10-year-old bush vines planted upslope in deep sand. These bring a degree of freshness and lift, complementing the power and concentration of the older vines. In this season, that combination has helped shape the balance and definition of the wine beautifully. 96 points (2024 vintage) - Halliday Wine Companion, Marcus Ellis "From a sandy 1970-planted block on the home Rayner vineyard; about 10% whole bunch; aged in ceramic amphorae and large-format old oak for 10 months. There’s always an ease to this wine, a red-fruited clarity of expression, a sense of immediate joy, but the Bondar wines never let the fun override the seriousness, nor vice versa. There’s certainly serious intent here though with elegance as the mantra, and perhaps more so in this vintage, with a more savoury lean. Wild raspberry, tart cranberry, rosehip, pomegranate, crushed rose, cinnamon, white pepper, young bay, cracked earth and tamarind. The mid-palate is supple, swirling with flavour, the tannins discretely resolute. Lovely." 94 points (2024 vintage) – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front “ Raspberry, strawberry, and quite some minty nutty perfume. It’s fresh, lots of strawberry dusted with pepper, succulent and red fruited, I like this bit of almond paste it shows, and also bright acidity, a sort of cocoa richness, with a peppery tannin and ginger biscuit finish of excellent length. It’s a bony and spicy wine that offers delicious sweet red fruited flavour ... so fine.” "We often think of grenache as a style-choice: hefty or light, ripe or tart. The best ones seem to do both, swinging back and forth on the palate at once. At Bondar, sundrenched and sea breeze-swept, Andre and Selina’s Rayner vineyard captures the tension between those two poles in a generous manner. Fragrant, finessed and fruitful.” – Jonathan Ross, “How to Drink Australian”, 2023