Clare Wine Co Shiraz 2013
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Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The 2013 Shiraz was matured in 25% new French oak and the balance 3 and 4 year old French oak barriques for 12 months. This has given a hint of oak but still allowing the fruit to dominate. Vibrant rose red. Nose: Sweet dark red berries such as plums and mulberry. Full bodied yet elegant palate, spicy, cherry ripe & hints of chocolate that is fruit dominated with good length.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep purple-black in color, the 2013 Shiraz is profoundly scented of baked black plums, blackberry and blueberry preserves with a waft of tar, roses and chargrill. Powerful, full-bodied and concentrated in the mouth, the chewy tannins hold through the long finish.
Clare Wine Co was established in 2008 by the owners of Kaesler Wines. Winemakers from Kaesler, Stephen Dew and Reid Bosward are responsible for producing the wines under the Clare Wine Co brand and their signature winemaking styles shine through. Fruit is picked and transported to Kaesler winery in the Barossa for vinification. Clare Wine Co’s focus is their Estate Grown Riesling which is a true expression of the vineyard and the famous Clare Valley.
The wines of Clare Wine Co. are all about regionality and pure flavors - the taste of Clare. With fruit from Watervale and Polish Hill River, there’s a sense of place to be found here. Polish Hill vineyard is 30 acres (12 ha) block with 10 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 20 acres of Shiraz that was planted in 1999.
The vineyards were carefully selected due to their unique soil formations and the microclimates found in the respective vineyards. The vineyards are over 40 years old, in the blue-ribbon sub-regions of Watervale and Polish Hill River. Riesling excels in Watervale and the Shiraz and Cabernet from Polish Hill represent some of the finest fruit found in the region.
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.”
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.