A clean and well-defined expression offering up some of that Wendouree ‘Aussie bush’ character, lashings of pastille and black jelly beans, faint black olive and clean earth. There’s some flesh here, grunt, more of the clean earthiness, some more of the brambly-undergrowth of the bouquet, a web of building pucker from the amaro-spiked tannin weave. This has a wild edge, succulence, persistence and yet a coolness. It feels like one for digging out when your remaining hair is at its dusty-greyest.
96+ points, The Wine Front (July 2019)
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.
