[SOLD-OUT] Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2021

 

 

 

"Clonakilla is thrilled to finally release the 2021 Shiraz Viognier. After the devastation of losing the 2020 Shiraz Viognier to smoke taint, it’s a relief and a joy to offer  the beautiful 2021. A long, cool ripening season has given us a wine of great purity, perfume and a fine line of silky tannin. It’s as far from a blockbuster style as you are likely to find. In other words, classic Clonakilla!" -Tim Kirk, Clonakilla 

 

"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.96 Points." - James Suckling

 

The benchmark in some respects and the axis from which shiraz turned, perhaps, in Australia’s imagination. Anyways, lots of us know this fame. Here’s the return after 2020 didn’t happen. And it’s a skeletal, light and tightly wound expression. Lots of floral lift, lots and lots of white pepper and sweet spice, flinty mineral notes. There’s red fruits, cranberry crunch and a lick of rose hip tea in this release. Edgy wine, nervous almost, structural but feels like its fruit hung off tannin and acid bones and the three haven’t found their rhythm yet. Tannin profile is on song, fine, long, elegant. Wait, wait. Drink 2025 - 2040+ 93+ Points" - Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

 

"I've been chipping away at a bottle of this 2021 Shiraz Viognier all week of a 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 millimeters of rain, when the average is only 630 millimeters), over the course of a couple of days at first, it opened up beautifully, the major impact being on the texture, which has silked right out and has brought all components of the wine into harmony. Onto day 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 not fallen to the ravages of oxygen. This evolution tells me everything I need and want to know about its quality and ageability. So, what's it like? It has notes of rose petals, raspberry leaf tea, brine, licorice 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 seems to be the ongoing trend, this has 6% Viognier inclusion and is lighter in alcohol this year, at 13.2%. Highly collectable. Drink 2022 - 2047. 97 Points" - Erin Larkin - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

 

  Vegan-friendly   Sustainably-made  

Country:

Australia

Region:

ACT (Canberra)

Variety:

Wine Red - Shiraz blend

Size:

750mL