Winemaker Notes
The wine has aromas of blackcurrant and licorice with a hint of cinnamon, enhanced by subtle use of oak. Warm spice tones and a long velvety finish characterize the full, soft, and rich palate. This savory style of wine is the perfect complement to richly flavored food.
"Ruby red. Suave, powerful aromas of blackberry, kirsch, roasted coffee and licorice candy. Lush and smooth in texture, offering concentrated, well-defined flavors of dark and red berry liqueur, cured tobacco and dark chocolate, with harmonious oak spice notes adding sweetness and complexity. Lovely stuff, with impressive richness but also energy and brightness. Finishes with supple tannins and excellent length."
-International Wine Cellar
Professional Ratings
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
The Clare Valley is actually a series of narrow north to south valleys, each with a different soil type and slightly different weather patterns along their stretch. In the southern heartland between Watervale and Auburn, there is mainly a crumbled, red clay loam soil called terra rossa and cool breezes come in from Gulf St. Vincent. A few miles north, in Polish Hill, is soft, red loam over clay; westerlies blowing in from the Spencer Gulf influece this area's climate.
The differences in soil, elevation, degree of slope and weather enable the region to produce some of Australia’s finest, aromatic, spicy and lime-pithy Rieslings, as well as excellent Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec with ripe plummy fruit, good acid and big structure.
Clare Valley is an isolated farming country with a continental climate known for its warm and sunny days, followed by cool nights—perfect for wine grapes’ development of sugar and phenolic ripeness in conjunction with notable acidity levels.