2017 Shiraz Viognier

The 2017 vintage was built on the wettest winter and early spring that any of us can remember. The early rain turned out to be a blessing, given the warm and generally dry summer that followed.

After the heat of 2016 the more moderate conditions in 2017 made for an unhurried, steady ripening with layers of aroma and texture being built up along the way. In other words, a typical cool-climate year. Classically medium bodied with a line of pure spice running through rose garden and ripe red berry aromatics.

“This is a quiet, controlled, deeply spiritual wine with a never-ending finish and a spell-binding timbre which will resonate for a decade or two with ease. It is classic Clonakilla, classic Tim, classic Shiraz / Viognier.” – Matthew Jukes – Top 100 Australian Wines 2019/20

“Tim Kirk nails it when he writes of a line of pure spice running through the bouquet and palate – I would simply add ‘and the aftertaste’ because this has superb length and texture, replete with red berry flavours. Clonakilla at its best.” – James Halliday

One of the greatest vintages of this wine. It has a super complex array of white and black peppers, hard brown spices, leaves, flowers and fresh wet earth, as well as graphite-like dark stony notes.

One of the greatest vintages of this wine

The palate is immaculately detailed, long and silky with flavors of blackberries, red cherries, red plums, dark cherries, blackberries and dark chocolate.

The palate is delivered with steady elegance and power, showing unwavering build and a seemingly never-ending trail of fresh and spicy fruit flavors. With the most immaculate tannins, too.

The real soul of this wine shines through in this perfectly simpatico vintage. Fascinating to drink now, but it is best to give it some time. Try around 2025.

Nick Stock - jamessuckling.com

Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier. Australian Grand Cru Shiraz. It has both lightness and power; it has wooden racks of spice set into deep cupboards of black cherry;

It’s a wine of shadows and a wine of light; of shadow and of joy

it has anise; it has forest berries, it has florals and it has meat, though all of it sits in the one, neat, tidy room. Tannin is so fine and so bright with spice that it sits like gold thread in an evening gown. It’s a wine of shadows and a wine of light; of shadow and of joy. Pour a glass and behold its beauty, for it is rich in that. Drink: 2019 – 2034+

Campbell Mattinson

A gloriously fragrant and elegant Clonakilla is the blessing of a classic cool year, brimming with rose petal and pot pourri. A delightful core of morello cherry and wild strawberry fruit