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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.6 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 43 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Cph88 on 2/6/2021: Dark black berries, sweet perfumy bouquet with a full bodied mouthfill and delicious tasting on the palate. Totally yummy...nice long finish...Hmmmm
Its lasting longer than RP had anticipated. (1277 views) | | | Tasted by Dgrul1 on 5/1/2020 & rated 92 points: Takes a long time (1 hour ) decant but still strong, powerful and full of life (1465 views) | | | Tasted by fevmd on 2/29/2020 & rated 94 points: Loved it. Even my wife loves it. (1476 views) | | | Tasted by vinhonotte on 2/21/2020 & rated 92 points: Fine Wines SG - Grenache BYO (Fine Wines SG): Medium garnet, significant rim variation and quite some extraction. Very ripe red cherry and plums on nose and palate, and quite some mouthwatering acids and alcohol, with tannins still fairly holding up. Finish was pretty short though (1635 views) | | | Tasted by Dgrul1 on 2/15/2020 & rated 93 points: Takes an hour to open up, but after that hold on and drink responsibly. My favourite producer by far, for a Grenache, has complexity you don't expect. Take your time and remember what happened in 2003. (1466 views) | | | Tasted by bjlcrucrazy on 11/18/2018 & rated 92 points: This was exceptional with BBQ ribs at the hunt camp!! Able to hold up to the hickory and guinness sauce!! Fabulous and peaked (1275 views) | | | Tasted by bonedoc on 5/29/2018 & rated 93 points: Ripe purple berries, silky, sweet, just enough acidity. Paired well w Korean pork belly, and stir fry veggies. (1578 views) | | | Tasted by amyyting on 9/20/2017 & rated 73 points: Past prime (1834 views) | | | Tasted by amyyting on 9/9/2017: No need to decant. Drink up on way out. (1778 views) | | | Tasted by K28226 on 4/3/2015 & rated 90 points: Cork disintegrated/ wine was decent. Probably in decline (3823 views) | | | Tasted by 3daywinereview.com on 7/30/2014 & rated 90 points: While not a top wine of the night I enjoyed it more than others. Floral, sweet palate, still tannic and plenty of fruit. I would hold this wine and see if it develops into a winner. Try again in 2016. (4287 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 7/19/2014 & rated 88 points: Shiraz (Irene's House, St. Paul): Very dark red/purple color. Decanted for 1.5hrs. Followed one glass for 75 minutes. This was like rum soaked spice cake on the nose and palate, cherry bon bons, cherry, port like nose. The palate is also somewhat sweet and port like. Cherry fruit, chocolate, ripe, woody, spicy, raspberry, moderate tannins. This was interesting and not too bad, but not something I could get excited about. (4235 views) | | | Tasted by mxpbuy on 7/19/2013 & rated 91 points: A simple but wild beast of a Grenache. We all expect high alcohol fruit bombs from Aussie generally and this label is no exception. Still the jammy blueberries (yes blueberries) threw me off. I thought maybe some syrah/merlot blend was really in the bottle. A wonderful bottle to share with 5 others, but my score would plummet if I were to try to get through a whole bottle myself. (4602 views) | | | Tasted by danielbleier on 2/26/2013 & rated 94 points: A clear favorite at the auction mtg. Big bomb of strawberry and blackberry, sweet spice and a nice tarry grip. Long and deep, felt young. (4614 views) | | | Tasted by Strumpet101 on 2/6/2013 & rated 90 points: Lots of candy. Plenty of aeration meant there was no chemical residue, but there was potential for it. Very fruit forward. Very alcohol driven. Perhaps if we'd given it more time to air it would have scored higher. (3281 views) | | | Tasted by davidrh1 on 6/24/2012 & rated 94 points: Dark ruby color, but not opaque. Great full nose of cherry, some oak. sage, some menthol and a little cracked walnut. The is a huge, chewy, opulent wine with layer upon layer of complex cherry, licorice, oak and dark fruit. Jammy with huge mouth feel, the finish is long and fine. This is a fantastically big but balanced wine. (3192 views) | | | Tasted by rdsboca on 4/12/2012 & rated 87 points: Blind Grenache (Wave 2700): Wine #2 Blind: Blueberry pie on nose and mouth with good acidity. I guessed Aussie. Almost Shiraz like. (3986 views) | | | Tasted by Dorndorff on 4/1/2012 & rated 94 points: Great nose of fruit and cherry, chocolate.. Long finish. Excellent!! The cork had some issues with but not problems after decanting.. Taste very much like a Shiraz but much lighter body.. Loved it!! (2533 views) | | | Tasted by egg698 on 3/17/2012 & rated 93 points: Still fresh. Ripe cola and blackberry and espresso bean in chocolate and heavy spice. Long, finish. This still has some time. Actually wish I had more. Best bottle of Clarendon Grenache I've had. (2433 views) | | | Tasted by Mingmong on 3/12/2011 & rated 84 points: Get alot of vegetal notes, roots, celery, sap. Green and jammy. not really to my taste, though it is a fun wine. (2656 views) | | | Tasted by Charlie Pendejo on 2/9/2011 & rated 92 points: Cork stained in a few places for about 80% of its length; wine was fine, and then some. Better acidity than I recalled made this fresh and food-friendly (smoked short ribs = lovely), and by no means a simple, overripe mess. I agree with Tanzer: it *is* kinda Pinot-like. Especially glad to have picked up a few bottles at less than half the CT average price; sad to see my last bottle gone. (3042 views) | | | Tasted by Charlie Pendejo on 12/14/2010 & rated 91 points: Fascinating evolution: day one, pretty good - now I see what others mean by blueberry; it's true, that's primary. Deeply darkly fruity. Days two and three, dirt came to the fore, floating over a backdrop of dark berry (with some red too, maybe) jam. Still quite enjoyable, perhaps more so than the first day. Certainly more interesting. (3169 views) | | | Tasted by last chance on 6/5/2010 & rated 91 points: Blind Grenache Tasting w/ Ben Smith, Dick Boushey, Bob Betz, and MrBigJ (Wild Ginger, Seattle, WA): (Group's #2 (my #2)) – 1 first place vote, 8 second place votes, 1 third place votes – The nose of this wine initially had a plummy aroma with an asian spice note. With a few minutes in the glass, the spice went into the background, and a Fig Newton cookie-like aroma came forward. On the palate, it was evident that this wine had a boat load of RS. Maybe even enough RS to get 2 or 3 more percentage points of alcohol... The flavors that were evident had us all thinking "Blue". Blue cotton candy, Sweet Tarts, and Kool Aid. Yes, if Blue could be a flavor, it would be this wine. It was a lot of fun to discuss this wine as a group before it was revealed, because it was so different than the others in this flight, or even the rest of the tasting. (3769 views) | | | Tasted by ghood on 4/27/2010 & rated 93 points: This is really lovely right now. Cherry and raspberry fruit with forest floor spices on the palate. The nose is cherry liqueur, flowers, and baking spices. Fine structure and the finish is marked with slightly drying tannins.... though this is a nice counterpoint to ripe fruit up front. Very nice and I can see this drinking well for quite a while. (2890 views) | | | Tasted by herberto on 9/5/2009 & rated 89 points: Typically overripe, but juicy, flamboyant and fun. To my taste, not a good value, but a fun wine. (3073 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Bonus Reviews (11/7/2005)
(Clarendon Hills Grenache Old Vines Romas) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Josh Raynolds
Vinous, July/August 2005, IWC Issue #121
(Clarendon Hills Grenache Old Vines Romas Clarendon) Subscribe to see review text. | By Campbell Mattinson
The WINEFRONT (1/1/2005)
(Clarendon Hills Romas McLaren Vale Grenache) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JebDunnuck.com and Vinous and The WINEFRONT. (manage subscription channels) |
| Clarendon Hills Producer website
CLARENDON HILLS
Inspired by the classic South Australian wines of the 1950s and 1960s, particularly Penfolds, the visionary Roman Bratasiuk, a former biochemist, bought the old Elysium winery at Blewitt Springs, near Clarendon in McLaren Vale. By chance he found the nearby 10 acre Astralis Vineyard as a source of "as good as you can get" Shiraz. The vines were first planted in 1920 with 19th century colonial vine-stock derived from Chateau Reynella. Best known for the flagship wine Astralis Syrah, Clarendon Hills also produces a portfolio of single vineyard age-worthy Grenache & Syrah wines derived from 35 to 75-year-old dry grown vines, from the Clarendon, Blewitt Springs and Kangarilla sub-regions of McLaren Vale.Clarendon Hills Grenache RomasClarendon Hills are vineyard and varietal expressionists who strive for purity and perfection and seek to portray the story of the individual vineyard 'Terroir' within their wines. Clarendon Hills’ collection of the old vine vineyards in sub-regions of McLaren Vale assists in defining their international pedigree for making world class wines that rate extremely highly among the international press.
Clarendon Hills makes an array of 6 single vineyard, old vine Grenache each from 80+ year old vineyards. The Romas Grenache vineyard is located within the foothills of McLaren Vale and was planted in the 1920's atop some of the worlds oldest geology located in Blewitt Springs’ famous ancient deep sands. The result is truly magical.
Romas is named after winemaker Roman Bratasiuk's childhood nickname and is one of Australia's most highly rated Grenache. Featuring within Clarendon Hills' Grand Cru classification system it offers many years of enjoyment with floral rose petals atop raspberry fruit coupled with terracotta 'terroir' characters that reveal after 15-20 years in the cellar. The Romas vineyard is one of the ultimate Grenache 'terroirs' of the world
The Romas Grenache is a single-site wine from a bush vine patch planted in the 1940s. This is the steepest stoniest section of the Blewitt Springs Grenache site previously tasted. The old gnarly bush vines are dry-grown and are extremely low yielding. This site has a due East aspect and is located at 240 metres above sea level and represents Blewitt Springs’ higher altitude stony geology with fewer areas of sand and more quartz, ironstone, and shale content. The rocky soils impact most noticeably on reduced yields and added concentration.Grenache Varietal character (Appellation America) - Read more about GrenacheRomasABOUT THIS VINEYARD
The Romas Grenache site  is located in Blewitt Springs and was planted in 1920
The 'Romas Grenache' is the steepest, most elevated section of the Blewitt Springs Grenache vineyard -
its uniquely special characters warrant its isolation and quarantine from the lower part of the Blewitt Springs vineyard.
This patch sits at 280 metres above sea level and is approximately 7 Kms to the ocean.
It enjoys a perfect due East aspect on a hillside that in some places reaches above a +40Ëš slope gradient.
The old vines struggle to survive on a steep rock hill face with yields a microscopic 0.5 tonne / acre.
Each of the Blewitt Springs, Romas and Onkaparinga Grenache sites are planted on the same hill side. The Blewitt Springs and Romas patches are due East facing and the Onkaparinga site is at the uppermost hilltop/crown area but is western facing. All sites are within 200 metres of each other and offering special and individual expressions.
These vineyards are globally unique - the unparalleled combination of 95+ year old, pre phylloxera vines planted in the oldest geology planet earth - surveyed at 1600 million years old -produces rare and exotic exhibitions of Grenache, not seen anywhere else in the world.
Underneath these old vines are primordial, ancient formations. There is a complete lack in nitrogenous matter available for plants/vines seeking nutrient and this results in extremely limited growth capabilities (Romas vines are approx. < 30 cm tall and each site produces less than 1 tonne / acre)
The environment has effectively reduced the output potential of these vines. The rich and ancient minerals present in the root zone of these special 95+ year old vines also impart rare physiological components to the vines and excellent grapes are a result.
These are globally unique vines that reflect and express their ancient origins with subtlety and sophistication
The Burra Geological group is the one of the oldest geological sub groups on this planet. Visibly the quartzose veins sprawl across the hillside; and shattered shale and heavy mineral lamination are present deep within this ancient landscape. These rocks are among the most admired primordial ancestors on planet earth.Australia Wine Australia (Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation) | Australian Wines (Wikipedia)South Australia South Australian Wine Industry Association | South Australian Wines (Wikipedia)Fleurieu Fleurieu Wineries & Cellar Doors (southaustralia.com) |
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