Kangarilla Road Shiraz 2018
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2008-
Wine
Spectator
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Robert
Parker
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Wine
Spectator
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Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator
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Wine
Spectator
Before creating the Kangarilla Road vineyard and winery, Kevin O'Brien was a winemaker educated at the highly regarded Roseworthy College in Adelaide. He spent 12 years in the wine industry managing wine companies, as well as two years as the international manager of the Australian Wine Export Council. Today, Kangarilla Road's reds display rich varietal character with finesse, structure and balance not always exhibitied by wines from McLaren Vale. Aside from the winery's Shiraz and cabernet, it can boast of one of the few successful zinfandel plantings in Australia.
Kangarilla Road is a fairly new brand on the Australian wine scene, but the grapes come from vines planted in the 1970's. For several years prior to 1997, Kevin and Helen O'Brien had been seeking a high quality McLaren Vale vineyard to purchase. When they were lucky enough to find the old-vine Cambrai vineyard, they jumped at the chance to purchase it. The winery's first complete vintage as Kangarilla Road was in 1998.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.