2010 Clonakilla Syrah

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  8/29/2023 - Andrew67 Likes this wine:

  Superb now but will still improve for another 5 to 10 years.

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  5/29/2023 - Dr S Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Now this is how I remember this (Crozes) Hermitage-like character to be. The fruit has resurfaced to put the gamey spices in their rightful place, as second fiddle. Raspberry, subtle blackberry and rose petal hints have the edge over charred beef, dried herb notes. Better balance than the last two bottles where the overt cooler dusty spice notes prevailed over the fruit, and better for a night to breath up. Something regal about it.
  
  Same on the flowing medium bodied palate. A real food style. Just the right amount of richness, peppered with roasted game, herb, almost aniseed, and still fresh. Close to velvety but for a pleasing chewiness. Seems like whole bunch but this wine, unlike the SV, is 100% destemmed.
  
  Faith restored. Back among my favourite Ckas and Shiraz/Syrah styles generally. Close to outstanding on this showing.

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  3/4/2023 - Dr S Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Tasted beside the 2012 Syrah, a revealing study of two cooler (or ‘luminous’ in their maker’s words) vintages. I opened them together to test my long held view that for all the 2012’s aromatics and charm, 2010 is superior, even if only marginally so. I did the same recently with the Shiraz Viogniers from the same years. The 2010 prevailed on that occasion. This time round the outcome wasn’t as clear cut.
  
  Bricking and then fading red from the rim shows obvious maturity.
  
  The 2010 possesses the more savoury nose of the two. Slightly dusty with whispers of pepper, perhaps white (one of the Jaboulet grandees, the late Gerald I think, warned that white pepper tells you not everything got ripe). Leafy hints have seamed into the red berry/cherry fruit and classic bacon bone aromas. Crozes Hermitage with a New World cool climate twist, perhaps?
  
  The palate is the hero. Full, round, integrated and almost silky. Flows long, evenly and satisfyingly. All the complexity of the nose woven through in intricate detail. It got better over three nights and was at its best, its most complete, on the third. At its peak. Likely to cruise on for another decade or so, continuing to mellow, by degree. Luminous indeed!
  
  I’ve questioned why I marked it hard a few months ago. The answer I think lies in expectations. I’ve always had a soft spot for the 2012 Clonakillas but thought 2010s, the first wet cool vintage after the dry warm 2000s, were unsung heroes. Especially the Syrah, for its Hermitage meatiness and spiciness wrapped around a dark fruit core. The 2010 looked in its prime in 2019. Now it’s faded a little, the fruit more in the red berry spectrum. Soft and glowing. More body but not quite the spring or bright, complex aromaticity of the 2012. And that’s not simply down to the extra two years age.
  
  As the winemaker, Tim Kirk, a man of devout faith, once observed: ‘You can only work with what God gives you (but you are free to worship the deity of your choice)’.

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  12/29/2022 - Dr S Likes this wine: 92 Points

  One of the vino highlights of 2022 was sharing a bottle of this with Alexander, owner of Da Gama in Riga. Presumably the only Portuguese wine shop in Latvia (worth checking out if you’re ever there - both the city and the wine shop are cool), I’m pretty confident in wagering this would have been the first and only time a Cka Syrah has been sampled in this fair Baltic land. The moment and place made the occasion. The wine was good, with its Hermitage-like meaty, graphite and (pink) peppercorn notes, dark cherry and raspberry flavours, and yet something about it nagged. It didn’t seem to live up to the memory I had of a richer, more balanced wine.
  
  Opened as part of a Xmas/NY Clonakillafest, on the heels of a good 2010 SV magnum and surprisingly silky, perfumed 2002 SV.
  
  This walks the wild side between Rhoney gaminess and herbaceousness. Heady aromas. Florals, dark cherry, peppercorns (pick your colour), baking bones and, yes, herbals/decaying leaf. Same same on the medium bodied palate. Fine with decent length, but the question remained about whether the acidity aids the balance - and freshness - or otherwise.
  
  The 2010 was a notable exclusion (along with the 17, another cool year) from the Syrah line up at CKA’s 50th anniversary. I’d always preferred the 2010 ahead of the complex, intriguing 2012 but the latter was picked for the grand occasion. That too is a heady perfumed creature, with greenery and spice galore. It polarised the commentariat. One critic thought it unripe, another editor/judge raved about its Hermitage-like florals and charcuterie.
  
  Where does that leave the 2010? One thought is the cooler year Syrahs look good for the first 5-10 years, while the fruit remains buoyant enough to offset the greenery, but the scales tip as the wine slips into secondary and tertiary characters.
  
  Or is the 2010 in the same league as the 2012? A classy Hermitage style as intended by its maker, with the herbal elements a matter of personal taste? Better open the 12 to check this out, with another 2010 too.

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  8/1/2020 - BAJRiley Likes this wine: 94 Points

  I know people rave about the Shiraz Viognier, and I'm a fan. But I forget how good this wine is and I should have more in my cellar.
  
  Dark crimson and bright. The nose has an elegant intensity with red cherries, raspberries and mulberries prominent, complemented by subtle oak and also spice.
  
  Medium bodied, the palate is vibrant. Unsurprisingly, it is a richer wine than various vintages of Shiraz Viognier that I've had but I wouldn't call it a big wine. Long lasting finish with fine tannins. Excellent.

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