Clonakilla Murrumbateman Syrah 2009

Awards

Halliday 5 Red Stars Winery

Scores

96 / 100

"Tasted this from barrel just over a year ago and was stunned. Sensational quality. Clonakilla has long since made this wine – a straight shiraz, sans viognier, from the estate – but until last year it was blended into the famous Shiraz Viognier that is the estate’s star. The review below is not from the barrel tasting; it’s of a bottle of the wine opened earlier today. It’s just starting to shy off but the quality is exceptional. It’s effusively aromatic but it’s clearly a different wine to the shiraz viognier release. This has notes of coffee grounds and roasted meats – there’s a touch of the famed ‘pan juices’ to this wine. It’s darkly and weightily cherried and plum-shot. Volleys of spice ricochet confidently about. Terrifically fine tannin – it feels hand woven. Simply a classic wine from a classic estate."
- Campbell Mattinson

95 / 100

"Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2009 Murrumbateman Syrah exudes attractive notes of cassis pastilles, blackberry compote, black cherry preserves and roses with touches of cinnamon stick and nutmeg. The generous and expressive, medium to full-bodied palate is framed by a medium level of rounded tannins before finishing long and very pure. 250 cases were made. Drink it now to 2025+. I recently had the pleasure to taste through verticals of Clonakilla’s flagship Murrumbateman Syrah and Shiraz-Viognier labels with owner Tim Kirk. Named after his great-grandfather’s land in County Clair, Ireland, Clonakilla was established in Murrumbateman in the Canberra District by John Kirk (Tim’s father) in 1971. Tim’s father sent Tim from boarding school to his grandfather’s farm each summer. A standing stone in the paddock has a Celtic Cross on it – the one featured on the Clonakilla label. Tim went on to study theology and rather amazingly learned ancient Greek so he could learn to read the original Old Testament. He exudes an extraordinary combination of intellectualism and spirituality, attributes so clearly reflected in the wines of Clonakilla. “Shiraz is the grape variety that gives us the window into what our land wants to say,” Tim told me during our tasting of these labels. 1991 was the first vintage of the Shiraz-Viognier to include a small proportion of Viognier, coming from their 1986 plantings of Viognier. In 1993 they began to use 1/3 whole bunches in the fermentation and increased to post-ferment maceration time to forge a more structured and age-worthy style. Produced since 2006, the “Murrumbateman Syrah” is a very special and rare label from Clonakilla. The fruit for this label always comes from one small section of the “T & L Vineyard” at the top half of the hill – the warmest site on the estate. The fruit is harvested, de-stemmed and receives no additions (tannins, acid, yeast, etc.). After a natural fermentation, Kirk just leaves the wine for a month prior to racking and barrel maturation. Clonakilla did not produce the Murrumbateman Syrah in 2007 or 2011."
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Tasting Notes