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Pairing Guide for your NB Grenache
Louise Rhodes
Dec 05, 2025
guide from Rob & Lou
Your NB Grenache 2024 Guide to Enjoyment
Serious pedigree. Very unserious intentions.
You got your hands on the Naughty Boy.
Now what do you do with twelve bottles of light, juicy, slightly mischievous Grenache?
Drink them, mostly.
But we made this guide to help you get even more enjoyment from every bottle — what to eat with it, what to listen to, how to serve it and, if you're Grenache-curious, a little experiment to try along the way.
NB is also a little different from most Aphelion wines. We didn't offer it to the trade through our distributor. It's one of the small, occasional wines we keep for the people who buy from us directly — at our McLaren Vale Cellar Door and through our Wine Club and email community.
A cheeky wine deserves a cheeky guide.
Restock Your NBWhy NB?
A wine that doesn't fit in a box. So we put it in one.
NB isn't Welkin. It isn't Confluence. And it isn't one of our Single Site Grenaches.
It's an occasional Aphelion wine that doesn't quite belong in any of our usual ranges — but was far too delicious not to bottle.
The fruit came from 100-year-old bush vines in Blewitt Springs. Rob used 30% whole bunch and matured the wine for 10 months in mature large-format French oak.
NB at a Glance
- 2024 Grenache
- Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale
- 100-year-old bush vines
- 30% whole bunch
- 10 months in mature large-format French oak
- 13.5% ABV
- Unfiltered, unfined & vegan
- Just 104 dozen produced - Only 43 left!
- Direct-from-Aphelion exclusive
How to use this guide
Want dinner sorted? Head straight for The NB Pairing Four.
Bought it because $220 a dozen was too good to ignore? We've mapped out how to put your dozen to work.
Grenache tragic? We've got a little chameleon experiment for you too.
Meet NB Grenache 2024
Black cherry.
Star anise.
A quarter teaspoon of crushed blueberries.
Then sniff again.
The back of nanna's dried herb cupboard.
Another sniff.
Bright raspberry and cranberry.
Told you it's a chameleon.
It's light-bodied and juicy, with raspberry brightness, darker undertones, whole-bunch savouriness and a welcome lick of tannin.
It tastes like early summer in the early afternoon. The BBQ is on, friends are in the deck chairs, the kids are shouting from the trampoline and the dog is watching every piece of cheese with intense concentration.
The NB Pairing Four
Four decisions you don't have to make. We've made them for you.
🧀 Cheese
Aged Manchego
Salty, nutty and just firm enough for that little lick of tannin. Add good olives and crackers and drinks are sorted.
🍽️ Food
Lamb Koftas + Herby Salad + Flatbread
Charred lamb for the savoury side of NB. Fresh herbs for the whole bunch. Yoghurt for freshness. Flatbread for everything left on the plate.
🎶 Music
Meet the "For a Good Time, Not a Long Time" Playlist
Karma Chameleon was the obvious starting point. Then we kept going. Seventy-odd minutes of sunshine, nostalgia, a little mischief and a few musical Easter eggs from the Aphelion wine world. Put NB in the fridge. Light the BBQ. Press play ⬇👇
🌞 Life
P.S. Yes, This Charming Man is a little nod to our friends at Thistledown. And Friday I’m in Love? Lou turned it up on the radio the morning we made this playlist. Some songs choose themselves.
When everyone's staying for one more.
The BBQ is still warm. Nobody has checked the time for a while. Someone asks, “Should we open another?” NB is a yes wine.
One thing before you open it...
Give NB a little chill.
Aim for around 16–18°C. On a warm day, give the bottle about 30 minutes in the fridge before opening.
Not fridge-cold. Just cool enough to make that crunchy red fruit sing.
For the clever shopper
Bought NB because you love a bargain?
Good. We do too.
At $220 a dozen, NB works out to $18.33 a bottle.
The beauty isn't just what you saved. It's having a dozen genuinely good bottles in the house that don't require a special occasion.
Bottle #1 — put it in the fridge now
That's tonight's “what are we opening with dinner?” problem solved.
Bottles #2–4 — keep within easy reach
Pizza arrived. The BBQ became dinner. A neighbour stayed for a drink. Tuesday was particularly Tuesday.
Bottles #5–8 — take them places
Dinner at a friend's. Sunday lunch. A weekend away. The wine is interesting enough for the wine person and easy enough for everyone else.
Bottles #9–10 — entertaining insurance
The deeply satisfying knowledge that when someone asks, “Should we open another?”, the answer can simply be yes.
Bottles #11–12 — hide them
Because there's another side to NB worth exploring...
For the Grenache tragic
Bought NB because 100-year-old Grenache makes your ears prick up?
The price is playful. The provenance isn't.
This is Grenache from a 100-year-old Blewitt Springs bush-vine block, made by Rob with 30% whole bunch and matured for 10 months in mature large-format French oak.
NB is $220 a dozen because it doesn't fit neatly into our permanent ranges — not because we treated it like an $18 bottle of wine.
And because NB has always been a chameleon, here's something you can do that costs absolutely nothing.
The NB Chameleon Experiment
Take three bottles and mark them:
NOW
LATER
MUCH LATER
Drink NOW while the fruit is bright and crunchy.
Give LATER another 12–18 months.
Put MUCH LATER somewhere safe and see where the experiment takes you.
Each time, write down just three things:
- What can you smell?
- What can you taste?
- Who are you drinking it with?
The original Naughty Boy got its name because its aromas and flavours seemed to change every time Rob tasted it.
We'd love to know what yours does.
Dinner, sorted
The NB Night
Don't overthink this. Put these on the table and call some friends.
🫒 Good olives
🧀 Aged Manchego
🍽️ Lamb koftas + herby salad + warm flatbread
🍷 NB Grenache, lightly chilled
🎶 Karma Chameleon
There. Dinner planned.
And what does NB actually stand for?
Northern Barossa?
New Bottle?
Nice Blend?
New Barrel?
Neutral Barrique?
Numbered Bottles?
Nope. Naughty Boy.
The original NB earned the nickname because its aromas and flavours changed every time Rob tasted it during fermentation and maturation.
It even overflowed its fermenter.
Eventually that wine evolved into our Welkin Grenache and the NB name went dormant.
Until another wine came along that deserved it.
From our table to yours
Got an NB moment? Show us.
Opened yours with friends? Cooked the koftas? Found an unexpected pairing? Conducting the Chameleon Experiment?
Tag @aphelionwine or reply to your order email and tell Rob & Lou what your NB is doing.
🍷 What changed? 🍽️ What did you eat? 👋 Who did you share it with? 🎶 What was playing?
Because NB is here for a good time, not a long time, you might just help to plant the seeds for the next strange little thing Rob decides is worth putting in bottle.
We'd love to see where your NB ends up.
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