It's been a while since we’ve conjured the clarion call of the Clare in the form of a cunningly crafted mixed 6’er. This edition is replete with 2 regal Rieslings and four fab reds from Jeanneret, Mitchell and Kilikanoon. Bring ‘em home and cuddle ‘em now.
It doesn’t matter if you’re acquainting yourself with the Clare Valley for the first time or renewing the relationship, this selection will leave you with the warm fuzzies, just as it did for us.
Whilst 2020 was a challenging growing season and yields were very low, fruit quality and concentration were excellent, even exemplary. There is concentrated black and blue fruit here, along with cedar and spice. The acid is fantastic, playing the perfect underscore to the fruit and giving this wine excellent lift and length. Tannins are fine and firm. Superb to drink now and for the next decade.
95pts Sam Kim, 94pts Wine Pilot, 94pts Kim Brebach
A varietally fragrant, medium-bodied, and intensely fruited Cabernet from the Kilikanoon stable. Violets, black cherries, and blackcurrants announce themselves on the nose and then invite themselves in to lie on a plush bed of tannin fluffed atop a selection of gorgeous cedar. A superb Cab from perhaps the Clare Valley's finest producer.
A glorious Riesling from one of the great vintages made by one of the Clare’s finest producers. This is a stunning Clare Riesling, built around lemons and limes, offering minerality and brilliant length and intensity.
A single vineyard Shiraz, which is big, enriched with vanilla oak oak and spice, plums, blue fruit, black fruit and chocolate. Super easy, lip-smacking drinking.
95pts Sam Kim, 95pts Wine Pilot, Gold Medal (Canberra Intl. Riesling Challenge)
Claymore have a habit of producing excellent Riesling and that habit is no danger here. Displaying everything you’d want in a young Riesling, lifted aromatics, crisp acidity and succulent lime. A silky palate that extends to a long dry finish just leaves you wanting more.
96pts Kim Brebach, 95pts Wine Pilot, 94pts Sam Kim
A riper, darker and more supple expression of Peppertree Shiraz which retains the hallmark, spice and subtlety. It was aged in old oak and released at 5 years of age – ready to drink! This is balanced and fresh, offering dark fruits, cherries, violets, dark chocolate, savoury notes and white pepper. Drink any time over the next 10+ years.
Region
Clare Valley, SA
130km north of Adelaide (and west of the Barossa), the Clare Valley sits within a high-alt ...
130km north of Adelaide (and west of the Barossa), the Clare Valley sits within a high-altitude pocket granting the vineyards cool to cold nights with long, warm to hot summer days. This cooler climate grants thin-skinned (and indeed temperamental) grapes like rieslings a perfect climate in which to mature slowly without risk of mould during the harvest season. The resulting wines are perfumed, complex, softly flavoured yet powerful.
There are several sub-regions in the 35km stretch of valley, pocketed with varying soils, altitudes and climates. West-facing, high-altitude slopes benefit from drying afternoon sun in summer, producing some of the region ... Read Full Article
