CLARENDON HILLS Clarendon Onkaparinga Grenache, McLaren Vale

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.

Consistent Domaine Clarendon Syrah characters include and grilled meat, black currant fruit and crushed rock, graphite-like minerality throughout the palate. The Domaine Clarendon Syrah is a part of the Clarendon Hills Premier-Cru classification and generally drinks best after 8-10 years in the cellar, when its terroir is formally demonstrated. Exceptional vintages like 2015 offer a unique approachability to this world class Terroir and opening it before full maturity offers an opportunity to see a legend in the making.

96 points James Halliday: Deep crimson-purple; spice, tar, liquorice and sombre black fruits on the bouquet lead into an intense, full-bodied palate that catches you by surprise with its (relative) lightness of foot. Savoury tannins are there in abundance, as is French oak, but with sufficient protein on hand, you could enjoy a glass (possibly even two) of this wine. 94 points DMWP: This bold , dark and beautiful shiraz still retains a youthful purple edge. It has density, weight and depth in barrow loads. An amazing array of flavours including vanilla, cacao, the blackest of blackberry, dark chocolate, black olive, licorice, spice, and grainy, cedary tannin are easily identified in a big, big, wine. This will live for a very long time. It's a thumper! 92 points eRobert Parker: From a steep, rocky vineyard, the 2013 Hickinbotham Syrah is still quite stern and tannic. Hints of mint accent black cherry fruit in this full-bodied, concentrated wine that still needs a couple more years to come around.

The old bush vine vineyard is considered a prized Premier Cru vineyard by the winemaking team at Clarendon Hills. Sourced from this single vineyard planted in the 1940’s and located in the famously deep sands of McLaren Vale, The Clarendon Hills Blewitt Springs Grenache is a showstopper. The wine expresses red and black cherry, blood orange, musk, violets, crushed rock and baking spice, with a talcum-like textured mouthfeel and long finish.

Fleshier and more structured that its predecessor's vineyards, a violet/lavender centre to raspberries, sarsaparilla and creamy blueberry pie. Plush and opulent. Always smooth and creamy in its fruit expression the site really offers a unique balance of approachability and cellar-worthiness. The Blewitt Springs site has a brilliant aged profile that may be mistaken for aged grand-cru Burgundy when tasted blind.

"Performing even better from bottle than it did from barrel, the 2002 Merlot Brookman Vineyard offers complex aromas of sweet espresso roast, black cherries, and white chocolate. This is a thick, juicy Merlot with plenty of structure and tannin as well as considerable intensity and impressive volume. It may be the finest Merlot ever produced in Australia. It will drink well for 10-15 years. Roman Bratasiuk is one of Planet Earths greatest winemakers, and obviously a top-notch viticulturist given his obsession with sourcing extraordinary fruit from ancient McLaren Vale vineyards. 91 points Drink 2004-2019" Wine Advocate #155 (Oct 2004) Robert Parker