Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2022
Australia
Regular price $104.99
Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2022 97+RP / 96JH
$104.99 SALE US Low - LIMITED x 10 bottles left
$119.99 reg
ABV: 13.5%
*ABV's are very conservative, especially by Australian red wine standards between 13 and 13.5%
Winemaking:
Each parcel was fermented separately. 20-35% whole bunches in this vintage. Clonakilla was one of the early adopters of whole clusters in the ferment with stems, starting in 1993.
Fruit is given a short cold soak before fermenting with skins plunged three times daily for around 18 days.
The wine is then run off into French barriques, 1/3 new, generally for 12 months.
The Shiraz Viognier is Clonakilla’s flagship wine, a careful selection of the best of the Shiraz Viognier parcels they craft from our Murrumbateman vineyard. 2022 was a cool vintage with gentle ripening progressing well into autumn. A more European vintage perhaps (even better for Rhone fans!). The cool season and longer ripening period have given them a beautifully fragrant wine with serious spice and soaring floral aromas along with classically fine, supple tannins.
97+ pts Robert Parker WA
The 2022 Shiraz Viognier is sensational, but that assessment isn't breaking any ground. It includes 5% Viognier co-fermented and had 20% to 35% whole bunches in the ferment. Lacy, ethereal and structural, this is equal part Boscobel rose (which, to me, smells of raspberry leaf tea and rose essence) and roasted meat juices. It is sweet and savory, spicy and svelte and peppered by layers of pastrami and roast beetroot. There are notes of earth, licorice, black tea, jasmine flowers in summer and lashings of dried exotic spices. This is affirming and good, so good. Drink it now for Pinot-esque pleasure or in 15-20 years for elegant, meaty, ethereal, fresh, complex, layered excitement. All good either way. This is one of my favorite Australian Shirazes. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. - Erin Larkin, Robert Parker WA
Clonakilla is an iconic producer in Australia, from a region that is a little off the beaten track. Murrumbateman, in the Canberra District, is a special place that is known for powerful, detailed Shiraz wines, perhaps off the back of the success of Clonakilla. The Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier wines on release are pretty, detailed, fine and persistent, with a structural clarity in the mouth that pins them to the mast and says, "I am Clonakilla." Their legend has been built on the shoulders of the old wines of the past, and they have proven their ability to repay decades of careful cellaring. Thankfully, the advent of the Stelvin closure will ensure the wines remain pristine for a long time to come. Special wines, collectable wines.
96 pts James Halliday
A cooler year has produced a pared-back, elegant and finer style that’s as exciting as any vintage. It’s peppery, spicy, a little sappy, laden with cranberries, pomegranate tartness, amaro and rosehips – quite exotic really. Accents on red cherries and red plums with oak spices and woodsy inputs bolstering the flavour profile and structure. It’s medium bodied, with the filagree tannins etched in as the acidity takes the lead to finish long and pure. Lovely now, and in good time, it will blossom further. (1/2023)
“This is an Australian classic, a Rhone style developed and perfected by the Kirk family, who last year celebrated 50 years of winemaking at Murrumbateman, outside Canberra. This is a wonderfully supple and stylish red with 5% of viognier aiding and abetting the 95% cool-climate shiraz in one of the finest Clonakilla shiraz viogniers I have seen. The vinous equivalent of a Phil Spector song. Aromatic, floral, elegant, and layered, this is still seriously under-priced for the quality.” Winsor Dobbin