2021 Clonakilla, Shiraz Viognier, Canberra District, Australia

2021 Clonakilla, Shiraz Viognier, Canberra District, Australia

Product: 20218114785
Prices start from £91.50 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2021 Clonakilla, Shiraz Viognier, Canberra District, Australia

Buying options

Available for delivery or collection. Pricing includes duty and VAT.

Description

I've been chipping away at a bottle of this 2021 Shiraz Viognier all week at nighttime, and a very interesting and impressive trend has emerged. Despite the wine in the glass being delicate, pristine and almost a little nervous (a product of the cool La Niña year that was responsible for over 1,000 millimetres of rain when the average is only 630 millimetres) for a couple of days at first, it opened up beautifully, the significant impact being on the texture, which has silked right out and has brought all components of the wine into harmony. 

Onto days three and four, the wine has started to indicate little hints of the exotic spice, cocoa nib and roasted meat rind that it picks up in old age, yet it has yet to fall to the ravages of oxygen. This evolution tells me everything I need and wants to know about its quality and age-ability. So, what's it like? It has notes of rose petals, raspberry leaf tea, brine, liquorice root, redcurrant, tobacco leaf and even a hint of orange rind/bergamot. 

The palate is shaped by very fine tannins that cascade across the mouth, leaving a trail of cocoa nib, clove bud and again with the orange zest/bergamot suggestion. Such a beautiful wine in youth; it's no wonder much of it won't make its first birthday! As is the ongoing trend, this has 6% Viognier inclusion and is lighter in alcohol this year, at 13.2%. Highly collectable.

Drink 2022 - 2047

Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate (November 2022)

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate97/100

I've been chipping away at a bottle of this 2021 Shiraz Viognier all week at nighttime, and a very interesting and impressive trend has emerged. Despite the wine in the glass being delicate, pristine and almost a little nervous (a product of the cool La Niña year that was responsible for over 1,000 millimetres of rain when the average is only 630 millimetres) for a couple of days at first, it opened up beautifully, the significant impact being on the texture, which has silked right out and has brought all components of the wine into harmony. 

Onto days three and four, the wine has started to indicate little hints of the exotic spice, cocoa nib and roasted meat rind that it picks up in old age, yet it has yet to fall to the ravages of oxygen. This evolution tells me everything I need and wants to know about its quality and age-ability. So, what's it like? It has notes of rose petals, raspberry leaf tea, brine, liquorice root, redcurrant, tobacco leaf and even a hint of orange rind/bergamot. 

The palate is shaped by very fine tannins that cascade across the mouth, leaving a trail of cocoa nib, clove bud and again with the orange zest/bergamot suggestion. Such a beautiful wine in youth; it's no wonder much of it won't make its first birthday! As is the ongoing trend, this has 6% Viognier inclusion and is lighter in alcohol this year, at 13.2%. Highly collectable.

Drink 2022 - 2047

Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate (November 2022)

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James Suckling96/100

Fantastic aromas of dark berry, thyme, white pepper, and lavender. Medium-bodied with firm and silky tannins that are fine textured, long and persistent that run the length of the wine. Energetic and focused. Drinkable but better in two or three years to take the edge off it. Screw cap.

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (October 2022)

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Vinous92/100

Thanks to the cool vintage, this 2021 Shiraz Viognier is pretty and ethereal, showing gentile raspberry, rose petal, and white pepper aromas lifted by stalky Chinese five spice. Supple and elegant in style, fresh acidity provides delicious impact supported by delicate sinewy tannins that support a fine and lingering finish. A refined expression of Clonakilla.

Drink 2022 - 2035  

Angus Hughson, Vinous.com (October 2022)

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About this WINE

Clonakilla

Clonakilla

Clonakilla was established in 1971 by John Kirk, a Canberra based research scientist of Irish descent. He bought a 44-acre farm near the village of Murrumbateman in New South Wales, 40 kilometres north of Canberra.He named the property Clonakilla (`meadow of the church') after his grandfather's farm in County Clare. He proceeded to plant 1.2 acres each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling. and a further 1.2 acres of Shiraz, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in 1972.

In 1996 John's son Tim left a career in school teaching to work full time in the family business as winemaker and general manager. In 1998 Tim and his wife Lara bought the 50-acre property next door and planted Shiraz and Viognier as well as a small olive grove on the warm north-east facing slope.

Clonakilla's speciality is their Northern Rhône blend of Shiraz with a touch of Viognier. This exquisite blend is most famously put to use in Côte Rôtie. The Hilltops Shiraz is a recent addition and is produced from fruit selected from three vineyards around the town of Young in New South Wales and displays all the character you would expect from a top Australian Shiraz with this producer.

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Canberra District

Canberra District

The Canberra District is an emerging and rapidly growing winemaking region in southeastern Australia, surrounding the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which houses the nation's capital, Canberra.

The region is renowned for its cool climate, ideal for producing elegant, aromatic white wines and complex, medium-bodied red wines. Warm summer days are followed by cool nights, which help grapes retain acidity and develop complex flavours. This climate is particularly well-suited for grape varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir. The soils are varied, ranging from volcanic to limestone and clay-based.

While still relatively young compared to more established wine regions in Australia, the Canberra District has garnered significant recognition, having received numerous awards and accolades domestically and internationally, drawing attention to the region's potential as a producer of premium cool-climate wines.

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Syrah/Shiraz

Syrah/Shiraz

A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.

It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.

South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.

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