Friday night dinner, Linda prepared BBQ ribs with roasted potatoes and carrots, one of my favorite meals for pairing with full bodied, bold expressive wines.
Following the trend of this week, for the third time I pulled from the cellar a 2007 vintage release wine to compare the relative aging of that vintage, albeit across different wine varietals and regions.
One of our favorite varietals with BBQ is the Syrah grape from the Rhône Valley in France, Australia and parts of California. Syrah is one of a trio of grapes often paired together in blends, along with Grenache and Mourvèdre - together referred to as GSM’s.
Generally we have favored Syrah over Grenache, but tonight, this single vineyard designated label exceeded our most lofty expectations.
I featured this same label vintage release in an earlier blogpost in which I also featured this iconic producer in detail - October, 2020 - Trio of Clarendon Hills labels - Astralis, Bakers Gully and Romas , excerpted below.
Clarendon Hills winery was founded in 1990 by Roman Bratasiuk in Clarendon, a town 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Adelaide, part of the McLaren Vale Wine Region in South Australia. Bratasiuk, a viticulturalist as much as a winemaker, selected Clarendon as a base because of the significant number of old vine vineyards that were planted there, vineyards of 50 to 90 years.
The township of Clarendon was established in 1880 by European migrants, who brought with them pre-clonal, original French vine cuttings that they planted and propagated across the surrounding hilltops. Clarendon is home to hugely varied terrain with sandy, clay based soils in the lower elevated regions and contrasted with shattered shale and ironstone rich, quartz ridden soils in the highest areas. It is ideal growing conditions for traditional French Rhone varietals - Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre as well as Bordeaux varietals Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Clarendon Hills vineyards sources lie within the Clarendon, Blewitt Springs and Kangarilla districts. Using single vineyard designated fruits, Clarendon Hills seeks to express terroir driven varietal expression in its wines.
Today, there are many single vineyard wines in Australia, but when Roman started in 1990, he was a pioneer in this approach. In the early 1990s, Roman started becoming known for his Grenache, but today he has an extensive portfolio of premium and ultra premium quality wines across 19 single vineyard cuvee labels.
With the release of the 1994 vintage. Roman hired his first employee and rebranded his $30 Clarendon Hills Shiraz as 1994 Clarendon Hills Astralis. It was the first bottle in Australia to be priced at $100. It sold out and became his signature flagship label which remains to this day.
Robert Parker has written that "Clarendon Hills is one of the world’s elite wine estates". In 1996, Parker tasted the 1994 Astralis and wrote in his newsletter, Wine Advocate issue 110: "This is the hottest wine in Australian wine circles, as it came out ahead of two great vintages of Henschke and Penfolds’ Grange in a recent tasting. If readers can believe it, it is a bigger denser, more concentrated wine than the Grange," and in issue 108 (1996) he named Roman wine producer of the year. Thereafter, Astralis became a cult wine.
Two vintages of Astralis (1996 and 1994) were recently included within the 'Greatest 1000 Wines of all time 1727-2006" as a result of 15 international MW's collaborating with Scandinavian publisher FINE.
Clarendon Hills was awarded New World Winery of the Year in 2006 by Wine Enthusiast. To date, Astralis is either the highest or equivocally scored as the best Australian Shiraz/Syrah based wine every year according to US publications Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate.
Today, Clarendon Hills produces broad portfolio of nineteen labels; eight Syrah, six Grenache, three Cabernet Sauvignon and one Merlot and Mourvedre wine. Roman exclusively produces single vineyard wines, all single vineyard, single varietal wines, produced from low yielding, dry grown old vines which are hand pruned, hand picked. All wines are aged in high quality French oak barriques.
Clarendon Hills winery was founded in 1990 by Roman Bratasiuk in Clarendon, a town 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Adelaide, part of the McLaren Vale Wine Region in South Australia. Bratasiuk, a viticulturalist as much as a winemaker, selected Clarendon as a base because of the significant number of old vine vineyards that were planted there, vineyards of 50 to 90 years.
The township of Clarendon was established in 1880 by European migrants, who brought with them pre-clonal, original French vine cuttings that they planted and propagated across the surrounding hilltops. Clarendon is home to hugely varied terrain with sandy, clay based soils in the lower elevated regions and contrasted with shattered shale and ironstone rich, quartz ridden soils in the highest areas. It is ideal growing conditions for traditional French Rhone varietals - Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre as well as Bordeaux varietals Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Clarendon Hills vineyards sources lie within the Clarendon, Blewitt Springs and Kangarilla districts. Using single vineyard designated fruits, Clarendon Hills seeks to express terroir driven varietal expression in its wines.
Today, there are many single vineyard wines in Australia, but when Roman started in 1990, he was a pioneer in this approach. In the early 1990s, Roman started becoming known for his Grenache, but today he has an extensive portfolio of premium and ultra premium quality wines across 19 single vineyard cuvee labels.
With the release of the 1994 vintage. Roman hired his first employee and rebranded his $30 Clarendon Hills Shiraz as 1994 Clarendon Hills Astralis. It was the first bottle in Australia to be priced at $100. It sold out and became his signature flagship label which remains to this day.
Robert Parker has written that "Clarendon Hills is one of the world’s elite wine estates". In 1996, Parker tasted the 1994 Astralis and wrote in his newsletter, Wine Advocate issue 110: "This is the hottest wine in Australian wine circles, as it came out ahead of two great vintages of Henschke and Penfolds’ Grange in a recent tasting. If readers can believe it, it is a bigger denser, more concentrated wine than the Grange," and in issue 108 (1996) he named Roman wine producer of the year. Thereafter, Astralis became a cult wine.
Two vintages of Astralis (1996 and 1994) were recently included within the 'Greatest 1000 Wines of all time 1727-2006" as a result of 15 international MW's collaborating with Scandinavian publisher FINE.
Clarendon Hills was awarded New World Winery of the Year in 2006 by Wine Enthusiast. To date, Astralis is either the highest or equivocally scored as the best Australian Shiraz/Syrah based wine every year according to US publications Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate.
Today, Clarendon Hills produces broad portfolio of nineteen labels; eight Syrah, six Grenache, three Cabernet Sauvignon and one Merlot and Mourvedre wine. Roman exclusively produces single vineyard wines, all single vineyard, single varietal wines, produced from low yielding, dry grown old vines which are hand pruned, hand picked. All wines are aged in high quality French oak barriques.
One of Australia's iconic producers, Clarendon Hills marches confidently to its own drum, crafting deeply flavoured, profoundly structured and often rather savoury and Old Worldly reds from shiraz and grenache from a variety of sites in the higher Clarendon subregion of McLaren Vale. Each are made and bottled separately, so a new vintage tasting of Clarendon Hills wine will take more than half an hour!
It's also home to some steadily improving cabernet sauvignons and some slightly idiosyncratic Mourvedre and Merlot. The winery's two top red wines, the Astralis Syrah and the Romas Grenache, easily justify their 5-Star status. The Domaine Clarendon Syrah is an exciting and relatively new project that should gain more standing and status as the vineyard matures. I love the ambition and attitude behind Clarendon Hills. It's pushing the envelopes of style and quality, and it's spectacular when it succeeds.
Clarendon Hills "Romas" Grenache 2007 South Australia
The vineyard was planted in 1920 and the 1940's with the 'Romas Grenache' the steepest, most elevated section. What makes this site special is its elevation of almost 1000 ft and its proximity to the ocean, which sits only a few miles away. The hillside site in some places reaches above a +40˚ slope gradient where the old vines struggle to survive on a steep rock hill face with yields a microscopic 1.2 ton to the acre.
The elevation and slope combined with the proximity to the ocean results in a cooler-climate site and not prone to producing the ‘jammy’, ‘porty’ styles of Aussie Grenache so popular from the broader area, rather, this wine is more like wines from the north side of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. In those cases, Appellation rules require it to be included along with Syrah and Mourvèdre to be at least 70% of the blend, which can include up to thirteen specified varietals.
Grenache is also grown on the Italian island of Sardinia where they produce bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). It is also grown in California, Washington and Australia who have all achieved found success with Grenache, both stand along single varietal bottlings and in blends.
We held several labels of Clarendon Hills in our cellar going back two and half decades, and several vintages of this one. I selected the oldest vintage, as part of cellar/inventory management, and as a continuing fun comparison of this particular vintage release this week - Garric Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and another, in a post coming soon.
We held several labels of Clarendon Hills in our cellar going back two and half decades, and several vintages of this one. I selected the oldest vintage, as part of cellar/inventory management, and as a continuing fun comparison of this particular vintage release this week - Garric Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and another, in a post coming soon.
As I write often in these pages, the optimal pairing of a wine with food will greatly amplify and enhance the enjoyment of both!
Tonight, these was extraordinary with the delicious BBQ ribs, roasted potatoes and carrots and was perhaps the best showing of a Grenache that I can remember.
Historically, we not huge fans of Grenache, much less desired than our more favored Syrah varietal. Moreover, in the earlier blogpost review of this specific label, I gave it very low lackluster marks.
Clarendon Hills McLaren Vale Clarendon Romas Vineyard Grenache 2007
While usually we’re not huge fans of Grenache, tonight, this showed extraordinarily well, enhanced by the ideal food pairing. I believe that the extra couple years aging in the bottle allowed this to settle further as it showed great balance and harmony.
This label release was awarded 91 points by both Wine Enthusiast and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.
It was matured for 18 months in 1-5 year old tightly grained French Oak.
This may have been my best tasting experience in memory for a Grenache varietal wine.
Dark garnet purple colored, full bodied, bold and expressive, textured but balanced black berry, black currant and plum fruits were accented by savory rustic, meaty and spice tones of black tea and tobacco leaf with firm but fine approachable tannins on a long gripping finish.
RM 92 points.