Winery: Knappstein
Region: Clare Valley
Variety: Shiraz - Sparkling
Your Wine Guy says:
A richer style of red bubbly here from the Clare Valley specialists, made with 90% 2001 vintage and 10% 2002 vintage fruit. Beautifully concentrated, showing rich spicy blackberry, licorice and chocolate notes, fine tannins and a great balance of sweetness on the finish with a creamy mousse that makes it just effortless to drink. Well done Knappstein, well done.
93 Points YWG Drink to 2013
Critics say:
"With structured tannins, be careful not to over chill this wine – it prefers the same temperature as still Shiraz. This will do justice to its Clare Valley black fruits, liquorice and black pastille flavours. Attractively fruit-driven and well-balanced, it stands alongside Bleasdale as the best value sparkling red in the country."
92 Points Tyson Stelzer Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine 01 Sep 10
"From word-go Knappsteins Sparkling Shiraz appears ripe, ready and fruity, as its bouquet sprays an attractive perfume of dried lavender and eucalyptus over aromas of mulberries, plums and berries, with creamy cedar oak playing its part. In a charmingly simple way, it’s fresh, appealing and even somewhat regional. The medium-weight of the palate makes it very approachable, as does its freshly packed arrangement of rich red and black varietal fruit flavours, but depending on your stance it’s either marred or elevated by an assured sweetness which takes on the guise of cherry brandy. Smart acidity frames the wine with trusty oak and a dry effervescence, while a lingering note of Black Forest cake completes the picture. Right now Knappsteins Sparkling Shiraz displays the sweet, fresh, fruity characters of a sparkling red destined for broad appeal, but put it away for a year or two, and watch it settle into wine better set for the more discerning drinker. Drink to 2014 (just be aware its non-vintage)."
89 Points
The winemaker says:
A very dry growing season, although punctuated by excellent summer rainfall which allowed fruit to ripen fully. The base wines are made with very little manipulation to allow fruit to show through. Fermentation is done simply in static fermenters and gently pumped over once a day. Ferment lasts around 14-18 days. Wines are allowed to settle before being racked to old barrels for maturation. The base wines are then transferred to bottle where they stay for
18 months on yeast lees.
Winery Information:
The Sparkling Shiraz was made from Yertabulti Shiraz. The Yertabulti vineyard is located about midway up the Clare Valley on the gentle lower slopes of the eastern hills. The Shiraz vines produce low yields in the barren terra rossa soils found on these slopes.
The Knappstein philosophy is to simply produce the best of Clare Valley in handcrafted wine and beer. Located in the heritage listed Enterprise Brewery, established in 1878, Knappstein is steeped in the tradition of Clare.
Knappstein focuses on crafting beautiful single vineyard wines reflective of site and variety expressing fruit at its purest without heavy-handed winemaking. Knappstein has a microbrewery onsite reviving its brewing heritage with the release of the Knappstein Reserve Lager using only the finest natural ingredients with minimal intervention.