Winemaker Notes
Widely acclaimed for their Jim Barry Shiraz stable, The Lodge Hill Shiraz is the third in the company's armoury, which also includes The McRae Wood and the fabled The Armagh. The Lodge Hill is a steal for those wanting to become acquainted with the Barry's formidable Shiraz style.
"The 2001 vintage was a beauty for Shiraz in the Clare and the Lodge Hill vineyard delivered superb fruit, so we kept it separate and decided to use it in launching this new label," said Peter Barry. "The result certainly vindicates Dad's gamble in planting Shiraz in one of the Clare Valley's coolest locations.
"It's a rich, complex, fair-dinkum Shiraz with aromas of plums and dark cherries mixing with vanillin oak, followed by juicy, robust fruit with a touch of earthiness and fine-grained tannins on the palate."
"Dark and chewy. Dense with licorice-scented blackberry and dark plum flavors, without showing much weight. Flavors persisit beautifully, picking up a woody note as they linger. Drink now through 2012."
-Wine Spectator Smart Buys
Professional Ratings
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.