2019 Clonakilla Shiraz O'Riada

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 91.2 points

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  12/11/2022 - Les P Hughes wrote: 92 Points

  For Canberra Shiraz, very pleasant light but easy on the palate. Would buy again

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  11/2/2022 - der Schmecker Likes this wine: 87 Points

  Blind tasting. Strong pleasant grapey smell. Purple color. Wine tears on glass. Mid-weight. Intense flavor currently offering limited depth and complexity, that will probably appear in a few years, or not. Bit of menthol in the background, which when the wine was later identified as from Canberra, led me to substitute eucalyptus notes rather than menthol. A hearty solid wine but I prefer other Shiraz that cost less money.

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  5/23/2022 - aero wrote: 91 Points

  Medium bodied, modern big fruit styling. A baby of a wine. The nose is powerfully fragrant -- strongly mentholated with eucalyptus, then ripe red and purple fruit (not berries), and some lactic elements. Oak and tannins dominate the palate, with an angular bittered finished. Some berries and more eucalyptus on wait quietly for the tannins to precipitate out in the cellar. Difficult interaction with food, but good on its own. Air does some good but won't get the wine there today, perhaps 4-6 years (2026+).
  
  Comparisons to N Rhone... There is good concentration but not much of the finesse, volcantics, florality, bramble, berries, garrique, gamey-meat, leather, smoke, etc you typically find in varying degrees from those appellations. This is more towards Central California Syrah, but with eucalyptus in spades.
  
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  Day 2 & 3 update - vacuum sealed with compressor overnight twice, the eucalyptus integrates somewhat but stays dominant. My experience is this will increase with age. The wine is pretty fat underneath like Cayuse's Syrahs but the style doesn't support it well IMO. You can see gum trees in photos around the Clonakilla vineyard, a fair bit of MOG may be making it into the wine itself.

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  3/13/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Under the reliable screw cap. Note made over 3 days of schlurpingk (this is a particular, secret, German type technique of wine drinking), scored as 'excellent' on the CT scale.
  
  Happy to concur with the notes made by other reviewers as to characters of the wine. I will add only that this represents superb value for money. It sat rather happily in every sense in a lineup with 2019 Clonal Killer Syrah and 2019 Rosty La Landonne. All 3 showed very similar characters early on and separating them would have needed a better palate than mine. Over time the Rosty steadily showed itself to have the finer lines and smarter handling, but neither of the Oz wines showed poorly. Indeed what was striking was the degree to which they could pass for quality Cote Rotie. That raises a philosophical issue of course - terroir. Are these true to region, or merely excellent imitations? Does it matter, if they drink really well and make one happy?
  
  One other thing that I have noted with the 2019 CK's is that the oak seems a touch more prominent than usual and, if one wants to be picky, it does get slightly assertive and coarse. I think the wines will eat it up over time, but I confess it is a nagging doubt for this vintage of their wine.

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  3/11/2022 - rjmp96 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Really beautiful oak overlaying ripe, concentrated lush fruit. Balanced on the palate with blue and black fruit, oak, spice and earth. Absolutely delicious, with brooding fruit, lush textures, earthy nuance and lifted florals to close it all out with a meaty finish. Imposing fruit but fresh, not jammy or baked. Really good Syrah here, definitely Aussie but really well balanced.

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