1997 Clarendon Hills, Old Vines Grenache, Kangarilla Vineyard, Clarendon, McLaren Vale, South Australia.
Roman Bratasiuk’s Clarendon Hills, an unlikely success story, is one of Australia’s great labels, doing a selection of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and outstanding Grenache wines, like this gorgeous and wonderfully mature old Vine version from the 1997 vintage and one of McLaren Vale’s storied or cru vineyards Kangarilla. I’ve long been a fan of Clarendon Hills, and interestingly, this vintage was one of the first I was able to taste, so re-visiting it was an amazing experience, these are truly great wines and Bratasiuk’s Astralis (Syrah) is one of the absolutely best wines of Australia! It should be noted that 1997 wasn’t as concentrated as typically found here and wasn’t as highly rated originally, but wow, this dark garnet, burnt orange and ruby hued wine has aged beautifully with loads of character and depth, it shows of slightly reduced red berry, plum, red currant, candied cherry and dried fig fruits, along with some mature notes of bay leaf, cigar box, sous bois, dried roses, leather and loamy earth, as well as classic pepper spice, anise and lavender elements. Lush and supple in the mouth, this1997 Kangarilla Old Vine Grenache, drinking like a cellared Châteauneuf du Pape, is performing way beyond anyone’s expectations, it is at its peak, though I think it could go another few years, but there’s no rewards for waiting any longer, in fact this wine competed nicely with some much younger and top notch Barolo and Barbaresco on the night.
Clarendon Hills, one of my favorite Australian wineries, was originally established back in 1990 in the McLaren Vale region, located in South Australia, by Roman Bratasiuk, the Ukrainian born immigrant who had a passion for French wine, and especially the Rhône’s top Grenache producers that inspired his more important bottlings, like this one. As I learned over 25 plus years of drinking Clarendon Hills, the wines all come from single-vineyard sites rather than being blending from multiple vineyards, as is the more common practice in Australia. Claredon Hills, as mentioned above does Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, all of which have their origins in France of course, though Grenache is most likely from Sardinia and been long before France more common in Spain.The vineyards are situated at higher elevation than most here in the McLaren Vale and have pre-phylloxera vines which are, in some cases, over 100 years old, as seen here with Kangarilla. These vines are mostly exclusively dry-farmed vineyards and hand-tended, with Clarendon Hills bringing carefully sorted grapes to the winery cool picked where the grapes are fermented in open-topped stainless steel tanks with the using indigenous yeasts. The wine, post primary fermentation, spends around 18 months in oak before it is hand-bottled at the winery, without filtering or fining. These are full bodied and opulent efforts, but show a natural balance and elegance, especially with the kind of bottle age seen here, what an exceptional wine and a rare treat! Thanks to my friend Erik Lateshaw, of the famed Sierra Mar Restaurant at Post Ranch in Big Sur, for bringing this beauty to a friends dinner recently and bringing back some fond memories.
($75 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive