Winery: Clarendon Hills
Region: McLaren Vale
Variety: Syrah (Shiraz)
Vintage: 1999
Your Wine Guy says:
Roman Bratasiuk has cellared this perfectly for you all these years, I tried this at a recent tasting (Sep 2011) with his son Alex and found there is still a lot of life left in the wine and strong fruit too.
The Hickinbotham is deep, dark crimson with a slight tawny rim. The nose is very intense showing black fruits, mocha, chocolate and spicy cedary oak. The palate also shows great intensity with flavours of spicy black fruits, mocha and chocolate with silky fine grained tannins that add structure and length. Excellent.
94 Points YWG Drink to 2015+
Critics say:
“Notes of new saddle leather, earth, truffle, smoke, black cherry, and blackberry emerge from the dense purple-colored 1999 Shiraz Hickinbotham Vineyard. It also reveals new oak in the aromatics. On the palate, it is tannic, closed, and structured. There is a lot going on, but the wine needs 2-3 years of cellaring. It should keep for 12-15 years.”
90 points Drink 2003-2016 Robert Parker eRobertParker
The winemaker says:
Colour: Black, purpled crimson. Vibrant intensity.
Nose: Ginger and white pepper spice the edges of black fruits, liquorice and Kalamata skins, smoky bacon and bitter chocolate.
Palate: Tight tannins, liqueur‐like richness within the flavour profile is defined with remarkably focused and precise acid profile. Rolling flavours mingle on the light‐medium weighted mid‐palate and a powerful finish of spicy Syrah follows.
Winery Information:
This wine forms part of Clarendon Hills’ ‘Grand Cru’ classification.
This masculine and often tightly-wound expression is often dominated by harder-edged and powerful characters. Recessed and concentrated, this wine has a mineral under-fabric that accentuates the boldness of its understatement.
The Hickinbotham family are instrumental players in Australian wine history, and Alan Hickinbotham bought this estate in 1960. Clarendon Hills sources wines from this stately vineyard to produce a single site Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and old-vine Grenache – all detailed by the Hickinbotham family name. Richly compact soils provide depth and a signature across the varietal spectrum.
In 1990, Roman Bratasiuk embarked on a truly remarkable wine making journey. His vision: to create single vineyard wines equal to anything in the world. Quite simply. Working with old, dry-grown vines and performing every step of the process by hand, Roman sought to redefine the Australian fine wine landscape by solely conveying the imprint a vineyard forges on the varietal expression. Every year a pragmatic and calculated Clarendon Hills learns a little more about our vineyards and pushes a little further to propel each one of our 100% varietal wines to the pinnacle of their capability.
Clarendon Hills is a small family run winery based in Clarendon, South Australia. The company was founded by biochemist Roman Bratasiuk in 1990. The story of Clarendon Hills is one of passion, dedication and commitment to exceptional wine. It all began when the biochemist and wine lover decided to produce his own wine. Though he’d never trained as a winemaker, Roman let himself be guided by his refined palette and scientific knowledge. Following his favourite producers and preferred styles, Roman sought to make a version of the wines he loved.
At Clarendon Hills, our approach to our vineyards is central to our success. We believe in conveying purity and sense of place - in ultimate expressions of classic world varieties. In all our wines, we seek to express the beauty and unique qualities of each of our vineyards. We hand-source very old, very special, pre-phylloxera bush vines and we make our wine by hand, using only natural processes. By doing so, we strive to express the unique varietal imprint of a vineyard – by conveying its vintage and location. – Clarendon Hills
Wines available from Your Wine Guy include:
Clarendon Hills Domaine Syrah
Clarendon Hills Blewitt Springs Grenache
Clarendon Hills Hickinbotham Syrah
Clarendon Hills Brookman Cabernet Sauvignon
Clarendon Hills Liandra Mourvèdre
Clarendon Hills Astralis Syrah