Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Supple, polished, expressive and ripe, layering the blackberry, dark plum, floral and clove flavors onto an open-textured frame. The finish lingers attractively. Shows presence and harmony, with plenty of room to expand. Drink now through 2025. 375 cases imported.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep purple-black in color, the 2012 Covenant Shiraz has a slightly reduced nose to begin with rubbery notes eventually giving way to core of crush blackcurrants, blackberry tart and blueberry preserves accented by hints of tar, pepper and anise. Full-bodied and densely fruited with muscular blackberry and earthy flavors, it shows a sold backbone of firm, rounded tannins and balanced acid before finishing long. Drink it now to 2022+.
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.