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Bondar

Poetry in Motion―Hope Springs Eternal Grenache and Shiraz
Bondar

Having reached the point where they can stretch their wings beyond the Rayner vineyard, we’re now beginning to see just how high Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly can fly. In 2019, they released the first Higher Springs Grenache–a single vineyard wine from old bush vines in the lofty hills of Blewitt Springs–and a Shiraz from Hickinbotham Vineyard’s steep, sculpted terraces followed in 2022. These premium wines now fall under the evocatively named Hope Springs Eternal range, inspired by The Pleasure of Hope, a poem by Alexander Pope.

“It’s a reference to the eternal strive for excellence or even perfection,” Andre told us. “Year in and year out, we’re trying to achieve that impossible dream of making the perfect wine.” For Bondar, altitude is key to making the fine, elegant, structured wines he has in his mind’s eye. He looked to Blewitt Springs and Clarendon, areas further inland with elevated vineyards that experience large diurnal swings. Longer hang times and more moderate ripening deliver fruit of concentration, complexity and, critically, high natural acidity. “From these sites, we get all the flavour and power of the region, but with better tannins and a finer frame.”

Andre has worked with Sue Trott’s Wilpena Vineyard in Blewitt Springs for almost 10 years. This steep, serene site is home to 1950s planted bush vines, dry grown in the region’s deep, beach sand soils. “This is proper dress circle Blewitt Springs,” Andre says, “the view is boundless, and you think, this place can’t not make great wine.” The Hickinbotham site in Clarendon is equally striking: steeply terraced with biodynamically managed 50+-year-old vines anchored in soils rich in iron and rocks. It’s a site that reminds him of the great European vineyards he’s visited.

The 2023 season was another cool, protracted vintage in McLaren Vale: conditions that fit the Bondar style like a glove. Long hang times and ideal rainfalls provided model conditions to chase down the velvety elegance, lively freshness, and heightened structure Bondar and Kelly have set their hearts on. In the right hands, marginal viticulture can produce magnificent wines; this year’s releases are proof of that. And, McLaren Vale hardly has a safer pair of hands than Andre Bondar.

 

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest.
The soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”
― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

The Wines

Bondar Junto Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2024

Bondar Junto Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2024

Junto is Spanish for ‘together’, and in this case means a union of old friends: Grenache (78%), Mataro (12%) and Shiraz (10%). The Grenache is sourced from two sites. The majority comes from Bondar’s Rayner Vineyard, with supplementary fruit from a deep, sandy site in Blewitt Springs. The Shiraz is also home-grown Rayner fruit (70-year-old vines on sand), while the Mataro–at its highest proportion ever in a Junto release, thanks to the warm conditions and outstanding quality–was sourced from the Lacey vineyard in the foothills of Willunga on the famed, rocky Kurrajong soils.

All the fruit fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in old oak for eight months. As always, the blend was composed with the idea that Grenache is the hero, with Shiraz supporting with roundness and depth and the Mataro lending spice, structure and tannin. Predictably, 2024 Junto is a lively, vibrant wine with restraint, energy and sheer drinkability.

“A fresh and lively wine. Has something of a petrichor character, that thing when rain hits a hot road, which I like very much. I also associate it with ozone, which is the smell when a storm rolls in and lightning starts to strike. All that nonsense aside, it’s red fruited, cranberry and raspberry, a light spiciness with some gum leaf perfume. Medium-bodied, crisp and crunchy, some Spanish black olive lends a slightly metallic and savoury element, and it sports pepper dusted strawberry and orange peel on a finish of solid length. Light and frisky, but a nice wine. Easy to like.”
90 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Bondar Junto Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2024
Bondar Rayner Vineyard Grenache 2024

Bondar Rayner Vineyard Grenache 2024

Bondar’s high-toned and beautifully pure Grenache is sourced from the 1970 block in the Rayner Vineyard. The vines sit on very sandy soils (part of the Pirramimma sandstone geology) and are dry-grown and organically managed. Facing east on the site's western side, these particularly low-yielding vines miss out on the hot late-afternoon sun during summer and produce small bunches and berries. These vines are marked and picked specifically for this wine.

Seeking a pretty but savoury style, the Bondar team picks Grenache a little earlier than many of their peers, helping to capture the fruit’s red fruit and herbal characteristics. To further build structure and longevity, 20% bunches are used in spontaneous ferments. The wine ages for six months in ceramic eggs and mature French barrels. From another cool, late season in McLaren Vale, this year’s Rayner Grenache combines lacy red fruit character with bright acidity, perfume and spice. This is McLaren Vale Grenache in its purest guise.

“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. Minty, yes, but so fine.”
94 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Bondar Rayner Vineyard Grenache 2024
Bondar Violet Hour Shiraz 2023

Bondar Violet Hour Shiraz 2023

Named after the evocative sky beneath which Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly picked the last Shiraz bunches for their first-ever release of this wine, Violet Hour is a blend of fruit from 10 blocks in Bondar’s Rayner vineyard. Each block has a different aspect, and soils range from deep sand with ironstone rocks to clay over limestone. The Shiraz vines are some of the oldest on the property, reaching 70 years in some blocks—a key to understanding the depth and detail this wine can express.

Violet Hour encapsulates the Bondar style—fragrance, juicy fruit and lightness of touch. The winemaking is adapted to the season; whole-bunch and destemmed fruit are used, and the juice spends varying times on skins, depending on the block. The wine sees only seasoned oak, usually for 10 months. The result is a seemingly effortless, transparent, deeply expressive wine that perfectly captures site, season and the Bondar style.

The third in a string of La Niña years in McLaren Vale, 2023 was, in fact, the region’s coolest season in decades. Andre Bondar’s preference is for wines of perfume and restrained power, so these marginal conditions and low yields played right into his hands. Picking came late in the season, giving the fruit plenty of time to hang and develop intense, complex flavour while maintaining high, fresh acid lines. The result is a joyously bright, fragrant, spice-driven wine with dark berry flavours, a warm woodsy feel and purple flower lift. The palate is full and plump, with svelte structure and a bright, long finish.

“Deep, dark and inky in the glass. Heady aromas of mulberry, plum, sweet spice, dried herbs, violets, nutty oak, earth and bramble. Generously flavoured, full-bodied and mouth-filling. There's a lovely drive of fleshy dark fruits, along with firm, grippy tannins, bright acidity and shapely oak. Power and balance evident here.”
92 points, Aaron Brasher, The Real Review
“The value here has always been super keen. That’s as true as ever with this iteration from a cool year, typically lifted and fragrant but also with some serious import. A tick up from mid-weight, this is spicy and peppered ferruginous minerality, along with blackberry, dark cherries, tapenade, violet, cassia, bay, coffee bean and salted licorice. Red berries swell up on the palate, with a thoughtfully woven skein of tannins underwriting its class. Excellent.”
96 points, Marcus Ellis, The Wine Companion
Bondar Violet Hour Shiraz 2023
Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Blewitt Springs Grenache 2023

Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Blewitt Springs Grenache 2023

Bondar’s Hope Springs Eternal wines are sourced from vineyards that Andre and Selina consider among the best McLaren Vale sites for each given variety. In the case of Grenache, this means Blewitt Springs in deep sandy soils. Each vineyard must also sit at high elevation to adhere to Bondar’s preference for elegant, fine, quietly powerful wines. This wine used to be labelled Higher Springs Grenache.

Sue Trott’s Wilpena vineyard lies in the heart of Blewitt Springs. The vines were planted in 1952 and are dry-grown on deep sand. It faces steeply east—an uncommon aspect in McLaren Vale, but Bondar’s favoured—and thus misses out on much of the warm, late-afternoon sun. According to Bondar, the Trott vineyard tends towards a darker fruit profile than his Rayner site, alongside impressive power and structure.

To this end, the parcel was split into two ferments, one with 80% bunches and the other with 10%, to build fine structure and bring out the best of the site’s darker-fruited profile. The wine is bottled after 10 months in amphora and seasoned Stockinger demi-muid. The quality of the site, as well as 2023’s cool, fresh signature, shines through in this year’s release. It’s incredibly pure, with high-toned perfumed and a dense, focused, driving core with plenty of savoury depth.

“Vibrant ruby and purple colours swirl in the light. Raspberry, crushed raspberry leaves and biltong aromatics. Powerful and intense on entry with dark berries, ferrous minerality and a deeper beef consommé undertone. Powerful fine gravel tannins ensure the tension is wound up yet don’t hide any of the characters on show, allowing it to flow incredibly long and remain bone dry to the end. Many years ahead of it if you have the patience.”
95 points, Stuart Knox, The Real Review
“It’s tea time. Here we have rosehip and Earl Grey tea, dusty spices, blackcurrant and raspberry, mint and thyme, hazelnut paste, something stony with a waft of petrichor (happy for you to pop me in Pseuds Corner, but that’s how it seems). Medium-bodied at most, spicy, a pomegranate tang through a dark fruit profile, crushed stone tannin, orange peel, something of a Barbaresco thing happening here too (again, don’t mind me), with a peppery and dusty finish of excellent length. Wonderful wine. Beautifully made. Specific.”
96 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Blewitt Springs Grenache 2023
Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Clarendon Shiraz 2023

Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Clarendon Shiraz 2023

Andre Bondar can’t hide his excitement that he is now working with Shiraz from the famed Hickinbotham Vineyard in Clarendon. This high, dry-grown, biodynamically farmed site was first planted in 1971 in these rocky, ironstone-rich red soils. It’s a revered site in SA circles, supplying Grange, Eileen Hardy and Clarendon Hills, among others, over the years. Clarendon sits considerably further inland than Bondar’s Rayner Vineyard and, at 250m altitude, produces a very different expression of Shiraz. “It’s finer, with ferrous quality and red fruits; there is a tightness and coiled power,” explains Andre.

In a very Bondar way, the winemaking does not detract from the purity of the site. Around 65% bunches were used in the ferment, and the wine matured in seasoned French hogsheads for 14 months. This is the second release of this wine (previously called Clarendon Shiraz). Andre played the first release with a straight bat: minimal bunches and a lick of new oak. Now he’s seen what the fruit can do, he’s incorporated some Bondar flair: the bunches bring an abundance of savoury spice to the intoxicating, potent power of the Hickinbotham fruit. It’s a hell of a wine.

“Dark, plummy red in the glass. Fragrant and lifted aromas of spice, bramble, earth, charcuterie, sarsaparilla, blueberry, forest floor and an earthy woodsiness. Full-bodied, punchy and crunchy on the palate. Blue and dark fruits, snappy acidity, granular, grippy tannins and sappy spice are all at play. Long, textured, layered and complex.”
95 points, Aaron Brasher, The Real Review
Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Clarendon Shiraz 2023

“Forget, if you can, the fact that few wineries can match Bondar on value – not easy given that no less than nine of its wines were awarded the Special Value icon in the current Companion. Instead, concentrate on the fact that Bondar’s McLaren Vale wines are full of energy, drive, fruit power and more. Bondar’s wines are of such relentless quality that everything produced here is almost guaranteed to be good.” Campbell Mattinson, Halliday Wine Companion Top 100 Wineries 2023

“Bondar makes a very modern set of wines that stress fragrance, poise, subtle complexity and mid-weight drinkability, but there’s a strong link to the past in the wines, too. While the reds are significantly fresher than styles of old, Bondar is not pushing hard in any particular direction, instead he cleverly builds structure, texture and detail producing wines that feel thoroughly familiar and strikingly new, too.” Young Gun of Wine, “Reinventing McLaren Vale”

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