Clarendon Hills is the living vision of one of the world's greatest Shiraz winemakers, Roman Bratasiuk. The dream was realised in 1990 and is now home to some of the most outstanding and hard to get single vineyard wines in Australia. The Astralis is the flagship wine in the Clarendon Hills portfolio, and while this vineyard is not treated any differently to the others, it garners the most worldwide attention due to its incredible expression and timeless elegance. From an Easterly aspect and planted on a 45 degree ascending slope, Australis has phenomenal varietal length and will repay the patient cellarer for more than 15 years.
Australia's premier cool climate Cabernet. It was John Middleton's dream to create such a wine and purchased the Mount Mary property in the Yarra Valley in 1971 to persue this dream. Quintet is his dream realised and is a blend of the classic Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.
Mount Mary Vineyard Yarra Valley Quintet 750MLx6 2021
Graveyard Vineyard is the jewel in the Brokenwood crown, responsible for the company's flagship wines. The vineyard was planted with Shiraz vines in 1970 - extremely heavy clay soils, yields are low, but fruit flavour is intense through employment of meticulous vinification techniques. Strong lifted aromas of sweet earth and dark cherry greet the olfactory senses. Oak features, but will soften and integrate given some patience. Initial flavours of dark chocolate and ripe plums are beautifully lashed to ripe tannins lending an edge of cedar.
Comte Armand is one of the leading and best estates in Pommard. This wine rivals Bordeaux in terms of intensity and concentration. To many it will always have an underlying elegance and class.
Comte Armand Pommard Clos des Epeneaux 1er Cru 2017
A luxurious combination of soft ripe autumn berries with fresh cool country cherries, this wine exemplifies the harmony that can be achieved by blending these two noble grapes together. The wine has an unctuous elegance that caresses the palate with a structure that is exceeded only in its width by its length. Still a youthful creature, this wine will age gracefully for decades to come. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (57%) and Shiraz (43%). Sourced from 1971 (100%) planted on the Estate. All batches were fermented separately and blended prior to bottling. These batches of Cabernet and Shiraz represent the pinnacle wines from the Estate, our vision is to produce a seamless integration of the best of both varieties, with great aging potential. The winemaking follow suit from the previous wines, this wine is about the best blocks of the vintage and best barrels being carefully blended. Rack and returned three times during the maturation of 15 months 100% new oak, Shiraz Burgundy coopered French oak, Cabernet Bordeaux coopered French oak Alan Hickinbotham established the vineyard bearing his name in 1971 when he planted dry- grown cabernet sauvignon and shiraz in contoured rows on the sloping site. He was a very successful builder, this his first venture into wine, but his father, Alan Robb Hickinbotham, had a long and distinguished career, co-founding the oenology diploma at Roseworthy in 36. In 2012 Clarendon, and the stately sandstone house on the property, was purchased by Jackson Family Wines; it is run as a separate business from Yangarra Estate Vineyard, with different winemaking teams and wines. The Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard covers a steep cut of country from the ridgetops above the village of Clarendon to the Onkaparinga River in the gorge below. Since its establishment in 1971, the Hickinbotham vineyard has become a part of Australias wine heritage, supplying fruit to produce many of Australias greatest wines. The Clarendon Vineyard has sold select parcels to Penfolds for Grange and to Hardys for their equivalent white flagship, the Eileen Hardy Chardonnay.
Hickinbotham The Peake Cabernet Shiraz 3000ml 2014
With a name that directly translates from French as 'The Soil', the Le Sol Syrah (Shiraz) pays homage to the terroir that creates this rich and evocative wine. With the trademark Gimblett Gravels stony soil, with exhibits amazing refinement and breeding while not relinquishing body and complexity.
Chateau Canon shows no shy and retiring character in 2010, set to a naturally ripe and high 15% alcohol. Though power and density is a motif in 2010, there is a surprising suppleness in this wine, born from central St-Emillion vineyards and the same family of wine as Chateau Rauzan-Segla of Margaux. Almost evenly split between Merlot and Cabernet Franc usually, it''s three quarters Merlot in 2010; the wine matures in oak barrel for 18 months, with around 70% of those offering new wood character. While dense and compact, there is a succulence to the wine that suggests cellaring to two decades would be apt.