Clarendon Hills

The philosophy of Claredon Hills is dedication to single vineyard terroir wines. Now under Alex and Adam Bratasiuk, the second generation in the family, Adam is responsible for winemaking while Alex on the direction of the domaine.

Their father, Roman, established the vineyards in 1990, teaching himself the art of winemaking by knocking on the door of a local grower. His ideals are to make wines as naturally as possible, from old vines, using French oak.

In the vineyards, forecasting play a key role in making decision of harvesting, with constant readjustment throughout summer to predict the size of next harvest, as well as micro-managing each parcel on the picking to look for the optimal ripeness and characters.

Roman himself tastes the berries and determined the picking date, all under manual process. After transferring to the cellar, wild yeast is used to ferment the must in open stainless steel tanks, with tasting conducted during the maceration period to adjust temperature and other elements.

The wine is then put in French oak for malolactic fermentation, with typical ageing of 18 months. No fining or filtering is done, and no chemical or agent is applied throughout the process. Even the bottles are sourced from the best manufacturers in France.

The most famous wines arer the single-vineyard Grenaches and Syrahs, with the percentage of new oak ranges from 30% for the Grenaches to 100% for the Syrahs used in flagship Astralis.

I have recently tasted the 1997 Astralis and below is my tasting note:

 

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep garnet color, with paler rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas of black fruit of dark plum and dark cherries, pungent spice of black pepper, kernel notes of chocolate, oak notes of smoke, animal notes of leather, herbal notes of black tea, maturity notes of savory. The wine is fully developed.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, the wine has medium tannin which is very smooth and integrated to the wine structure. Medium (+) in alcohol, the wine has medium body and medium intensity on flavors of black fruit such as blackcurrant and plum, oak notes of smoke, animal notes of leather, pungent spice of pepper. The wine has a medium (+) finish.

Conclusion

Very good quality Australian Shiraz with a fairly intense nose showing high degree of complexity, the palate has a silky mouthfeel which is amazing from the varietal, with the high alcohol not showing up because of all-round balance. The length is fairly long too, it is ready to drink now and not intend for further ageing.