Winemaker Notes
The McRae Wood Shiraz was first developed in 1992 in response to growing demand for the renowned 'The Armagh' Shiraz, which could only ever be made in limited quantities. The McRae Wood draws on the best sections of low-yielding Shiraz from the family's mosaic of vineyards across the Clare Valley.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Iron, blackberries, mulberries, cloves and rosemary on the nose of this full-bodied and focused red. It’s sleek and polished with a savory freshness and seamless tannins. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 The McRae Wood Shiraz is powerful and succulent, with a juicy array of red and purple fruit that is crowded by dusty, spicy tannins. The fruit for this wine is sourced from a number of different vineyards across Clare Valley. 14.3% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
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.