Cedar, blackberry, red fruits, furniture polish and camphor chests, some coffee – drawing room wine, perhaps. Medium bodied, firm, gum leaf flavours, black and red fruit. A tense sort of wine, does a lot of frowning, it strikes me. There’s an echo of iron tannin, softly chiming in the distance. Perhaps a little too drying and mulchy on the finish, but I like, or maybe even love, its mineral character and aniseed vapour trail. A wine of composition and integrity. More to come.
92+ points, The Wine Front (September 2013)
The Clare Valley
The Clare Valley is located two hours north of Adelaide in the Mount Lofty ranges. The region was settled by John Horrocks who encouraged his servant James Green to plant the first vines in 1842. Climate in the Clare Valley is continental with hot summers, cold winters and low rainfall that necessitates supplementary irrigation. Soils in the valley are predominantly red brown loams over shale, permitting excellent drainage. Many of the best vineyards are located at higher elevations of 400-500m on sites that take advantage of the cool breezes that funnel up the corrugation of hills from the south. The Clare Valley is renowned for its zesty fruit-pure Rieslings particularly from the sub-regions of Polish Hill and Watervale. The region also produces intense age-worthy sturdy reds from Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.