Vintage
2020
ABV
14%
Wine Type
Red Blend
Wine Style
Still
Wine Description
Each year The Phantom appears – remarkable and startling, only revealing itself after its maker has blended each of its components discreetly and skilfully. The Phantom is a harmonised chorus of McLaren Vale fruit; a red wine steeped in creativity and innovation where the varieties and blends will change each year. After The Phantom emerges, its maker remains watchful. He melds into his environment, undetected, while composing his next secret blend. If you crave some intrigue and mystery, discover the x-factor of The Phantom.
Accolades
93 Points - The Wine Front.
A mix of Grenache and Mataro in equal parts, The Phantom is a wine, as the name suggests, that delivers an elusive nature, seeking out a different expression/blend each year.
It’s at the fancier end of Gemtree wines folio, is the crib notes. Mellifluous red of concentration, satiny texture, some late grip, lots of perfume. Mulberry, plum, brined black olive, tobacco and twiggy woody notes mesh well in this wine. Power, grace, this lovely flow and despite a sense of density a kind of medium weight slip across the palate. The wine feels made from really clear fruit and made really seamlessly. Fancy wine, done well. - Mike Bennie
Silver, 91 Points - McLaren Vale Wine Show 2021
Winemaker's Bio
Mike Brown is the managing director of Gemtree, where he does everything from making the wine to wearing out the shoe leather (in a normal year) during his travels from Queenstown to Quebec, sharing the stories of his McLaren Vale wines.
Originally from NSW, Mike undertook a vintage in SA in the early 1990s, shortly thereafter leaving Sydney and his job at the stock exchange to study wine marketing, gaining valuable insights into wineries and winemaking. However, it was the smells, tastes and activity within the cellar that Mike really loved. After working many vintages in wineries around McLaren Vale and France, in 1998 Mike completed his first vintage as a winemaker at Gemtree.
