Red Wines    Syrah/Shiraz    Clare Valley    Australia   
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My Rating (circle) :
Date Printed: 5/16/2008
(search item no. 61767)
James Halliday rating: 95 points
Wine & Spirits rating: 93 points
PRICE ON 5/16/2008: $34.99

ratings pedigree (past vintages):
2004 James Halliday rating: 95 points
2000 James Halliday rating: 95 points
2000 Wine Spectator rating: 91 points
1999 Wine & Spirits rating: 95 points

Winemaker's Notes:

 The wine is a vibrant deep purple in color with intense aromas of blackcurrant, violets, dark berries and a hint of chocolate on the nose. Aromas promised on the nose are delivered in a rich, concentrated and well-balanced full-bodied palate. A backbone of sweet oak and long velvety tannins complete the structure and the wine finishes with a silky mouthfeel and excellent length.

"So I'm a sucker for Clare. It's not just how cool and absolutely balanced this wine feels, with nothing heavy or hot as it melts over you, a shower of flavors and deep, refreshing fruit. The wine puts on its performance, fragrant, fresh, saturated with fruit, then it just stands there, lifted and gleaming, center stage, as if to finish by taunting 'I'm in Clare, and you're not.' And as that pure, bright flavor slowly recedes, the only way to get it back is to take another sip, and gain the pleasure of Clare all over again. A masterwork from winemaker Caroline Dunn."
-Wines & Spirits
My Notes:

Additional wines from Annie's Lane:

About Annie's Lane:

 Annie Wayman was a legend in the Clare Valley. She could always be relied upon to bring along sandwiches and a warm drink to harvesters and pruners in the vineyard at the turn of the 20th century. One evening, Annie's horse and cart got bogged in a lane adjacent to one of the valley's best vineyards. Thus, Annie's Lane was born.

Annie' s Lane is now one of the finest wineries in Australia's renowned Clare Valley and represents the finest vineyards in one of South Australia's great regions. The Annie's Lane wines rely on regional and varietal expression and have been awarded with over 350 trophies and medals at wine shows in Australia and across the globe since the first release in 1996. The most successful of all the wines has been the super-premium Copper Trail Shiraz.

The home of Annie's Lane is the heritage listed Quelltaler winery at the heart of Watervale, in the Clare Valley's south. Quelltaler is the region's oldest and most important winery, dating back to 1863. Fruit for Annie's Lane is sourced from magnificent old Watervale vines as well as from vineyards to the north in the Polish Hill River sub-district where the cooler ripening period and extraordinary slate riddled soils combine to create an unmistakable stamp of the Clare Valley.

While Quelltaler has gone through a multitude of trials and tribulations in its 140 years of winemaking, since 1996 and the launch of Annie's Lane there has been nothing but universal praise for what is now considered one of Australia's finest ranges of wine.