Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2023
The flagship is in fine form from this cool vintage, rendering it elegant and quite exotic. Plus, 22% whole bunches in the ferment make an impact. It?s a touch sappy yet laden with heady aromatics ? all florals with a dusting of Middle Eastern spices such as sumac. Super peppery. The mid-weighted palate is tight and a touch lean with red fruit accents, bright acidity and fine if plentiful tannins. It?s a wine you keep coming back to as it reveals more and differently. It's lovely and enticing; it feels light and ethereal, deceptive. Time will reward the patient as this builds more complexity, but it is seriously hard to resist now. 95 points, drink 2024-2035, Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion.
22% whole bunches, 6% viognier, co-fermented, wild yeast, three week-ish maceration, 33%-ish new oak.
I?ve loved Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier since the 1997 release and I love them from all manner of seasons. But gradually, over time, I?ve come to really prize the results of the cooler seasons, and the 2023 season was one of those. In a wine like Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier, which comes from a micro-climate, seasonal variation makes a distinct difference.
The finesse of this release. The fragrance too, which leads to a palate where just enough, feels like extra. It?s buoyant, juicy and perfumed, with a wild party of spice notes flying through the wine like happiness itself, or like confetti, either way there?s an air here of celebration. This wine sits on the apex of the road, where the rain meets the oil. The fruit flavours have a water-colour aspect; the texture coats the flavour in satin. We?ve come to expect all the above from Clonakilla?s flagship wine. What?s special, for me, in this 2023 release is the web of tannin, as dewy as it is strong. There?s a weave to this release. It?s a masterpiece of twigs, nuts and strings. If Morricone had been a winemaker he?d have made something like this. Orchestral. Spellbinding. Itself. Abandon all resistance, ye who enter here. 96 points, drink 2025-2040+, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
