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  • Country ranking ?

    176
  • Producer ranking ?

    6
  • Decanting time

    -
  • When to drink

    2020-2035

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The Story

The south facing 12 acre vineyard – located in the sleepy picturesque and biscuit-coloured Murrumbateman landscape – is planted on sandy clay loams over friable clays. The need to be different during the 1980s boutique winery boom moved Clonakilla away from the mainstream in 1986 and into the unproven but tantalising marriage potential and astounding nuances of Viognier as a co-factor in the vinification of Shiraz. This is a supreme example of where generosity of spirit as much as vineyard site and winemaking practice inextricably weaves through the wine. The perfumed, sensuous, Clonakilla style is essentially about “fruit leading the wood”. It is a highly aromatic wine with ginger, white pepper, apricot fruit, some savoury French oak nuances and fine slinky/boney tannins. 

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Vintage 2002

Australia 2002 was a cold year with plenty of winter and spring rain to support the vines for the year. Summer and fall were completely dry. The summer was the coldest on record. Fall had one of the warmest endings. All of this meant that we had very low yields of grapes and produced high quality wines. The grapes had a very good scent (nose and taste, more floral than usual), good concentration and good acidity. A great year for whites and maybe a few reds. However, it was important to pick the grapes very ripe and keep the nitrogen to a minimum.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

The first time that Tim incorporated fruit from the new north-east facing T & L Vineyard, which had been planted by the family. 6% Viognier; 30% whole bunches; two weeks on skins with 2-4 days pre-maceration; 12 months in oak with 1/3rd of that new, from Francois Freres, Sirugue and Bossuet. 14.2%. Tim believed this to be his “most Burgundian vintage” and it is one that he has always loved, describing it as “red fruits with mulch”. He provided 3 magnums for the event. Sadly, cork taint ruined two of them.

Fortunately, the one magnum not destroyed by errant tree bark was in great form. It opened a little reticently but soon blossomed. Red berries, raspberries, liqueur cherry notes. There are plenty of tannins but they are satiny soft. Nicely balanced and with decent length. No rush to drink this, though dodgy corks may impose a different view.

93

  • 93p

Full red-ruby. Meaty, spicy perfume of honeysuckle, apricot blossom and rose petal over funky aromas of undergrowth and farm floor, cassis, raspberry and boysenberry. A stylized and crafted wine whose elegant palate of intense, succulent small berry and plum flavors stretches the bounds of gamey, meaty spiciness and funk without any suggestion of spoilage or instability. Superbly intermeshed with fine, bony tannins; complex, classy, savory and very long. This is unlikely ever to be identified as an Australian wine without prior knowledge.

  • 95p
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Information

Origin

Canberra District
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