Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2015

Established in 1971, Clonakilla is a small family winery at Murrumbateman dedicated to producing distinctive, handcrafted Canberra region wines. The Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier, their flagship wine, has won numerous awards and has been regularly nominated as Wine of the Year by Australia's leading Wine Critics. It is one of the great wines of Australia and is recognised as a world-class red in its own right. 

The Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz, first produced in  2000, is made from grapes selected from vineyards in the Hilltops district around Young on the South Western Slopes of New South Wales.

"Hilltops shiraz at its most elegant. Yes. This is good. Complete. Spicy, well-fruited, taut but expressive. If mid-weight, savoury-accented reds are your go, you can't go wrong here."  Campbell Mattinson

Expert reviews

"This is another cracking release under the Hilltops label. Superbly balanced with an impeccably silky and fine palate, it is a wine you must put in the cellar: it is lovely now, but will reward those who can resist for as long as possible. Screwcap. Drink 2030."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"Hilltops shiraz at its most elegant. Yes. This is good. Complete. Spicy, well-fruited, taut but expressive. It's listed at 14.5% alc/vol but it doesn't feel it; it has a modesty. Red and black berries with tobacco, stonefruit, anise and crushed dry spice. If mid-weight, savoury-accented reds are your go, you can't go wrong here. Drink: 2016-2026."  Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 93 points

Awards

Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 

About the winemaker

"As humans go, Tim Kirk is a good one; he is courteous and respectful, is generous with his time and when you talk to him, he genuinely listens. That, and he also makes very, very good wine. On a personal level, he is deeply spiritual. He doesn't hide his faith but is far from preachy. It's a pure, inclusive belief and he radiates a quiet, confident and contented joy. He's like a six-foot scholarly Friar Tuck who, instead of mead, makes Australia's best Shiraz Viognier."  Wine Selectors

In 1991 Tim Kirk travelled to the Rhône Valley where he tasted the great Shiraz-based wines of Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage. The highlight of the trip was at the Guigal family winery, where Tim tasted the 1988 single vineyard Cote Roties La Landonne, La Mouline and La Turque from barrel.

This was a turning point. Tim remembers it well: "There are rare moments in a wine lover's life when you find yourself transfixed by the extraordinary beauty of what's in the glass before you, and tasting those Cote Roties was just such a revelatory moment for me. They had striking aromas; an ethereal perfume with complex, savoury dimensions, while the palate structure was different to the robust texture that Australian Shiraz wines are renowned for. These wines were finer in texture, the tannins leaving a silky impression, but with flavours that had persistence and great drive. I thought at the time that if I was ever able to produce wine from our humble vineyard at Murrumbateman that got close to that level of complexity, refinement and beauty, I would be a very happy man. I wondered if Shiraz wines approaching the best Cote Roties in style and substance could be produced in Australia. I was very fortunate that my father John had planted some Viognier at Clonakilla in the mid-eighties. I had also been impressed with what Bailey Carrodus had achieved at Yarra Yering in the Yarra Valley with his Dry Red No. 2. So from the 1992 vintage onwards we set about making a Shiraz Viognier blend from our Murrumbateman vineyard.”

Tim's trip to the Rhône Valley was a career defining trip. A year later the first Clonakilla Shiraz with a small amount of co-fermented Viognier was made and received critical acclaim from a number of luminaries. Tim decided to leave his teaching post at a Jesuit school and became the winemaker and General Manager at Clonakilla.

In 1999, in a shock result for the Hunter Valley dominated NSW wine industry, the 1998 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier was named New South Wales Wine of the Year. Numerous awards have since followed and the wine has regularly been nominated as Wine of the Year by Australia's leading Wine Critics. The Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier is now widely celebrated as one of the great reds of Australia and recognised as a world-class red in its own right. 

In 2007, encouraged by the worldwide success of the Shiraz Viognier, Tim decided to release a straight Shiraz from the 2006 vintage (from the same estate vines that produce the Shiraz Viognier). The Syrah presents as a darker, more brooding wine than the Shiraz Viognier with a distinct wild berry, potent spice character. This is the Hermitage to the Shiraz Viognier's Côte-Rôtie. It's also rare. No more than 300 dozen are made each year.

In 2009 Tim Kirk was named Winemaker of the Year by Nick Stock in the Penguin Good Wine Guide. This was followed in 2013 when he was named Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine's Winemaker of the Year. It was the third time he had been shortlisted for this prestigious award. 

The overriding principle that governs the work at Clonakilla is that the winemaking has to respect the fruit. In Tim's view, "The task of the winemaker is to capture something that is present in the fruit; something good, unique, worthy of inspection, perhaps even beautiful. Carefully grown grapes from a noble site deserve the opportunity to express themselves in as pure a form as possible. It is important to resist the temptation to bury the fruit in too much winemaking artifice. The winemaking inputs we bring should serve the purpose of capturing the personality of the fruit, rather than imposing the winemaker's vision for what the thing is supposed to taste like." 

About the winery

In 1971 John Kirk purchased an 18ha farm near the village of Murrumbateman, 40km north of Canberra. He named the property Clonakilla (‘meadow of the church') after his grandfather's farm in County Clare, Ireland. The Vineyard was established the same year, on soil consisting of sandy clay loams over a base of decomposed granite. John produced the Canberra District's first commercial vintage in 1976 – a Riesling Sauvignon Blanc and a Cabernet Shiraz. From 1978 to the present, the Clonakilla Vineyard has gradually expanded with Shiraz, Riesling and Viognier making up the bulk of the vineyard, which now covers 16.2ha.

John first planted Shiraz at Clonakilla in 1972. Through the seventies and eighties the Shiraz was blended with Cabernet Sauvignon in traditional Australian style. In 1990 it was decided to keep the Shiraz component separate. The Clonakilla 1990 Shiraz went on to win two gold medals and two trophies. James Halliday described it as "a tour de force in spicy/peppery varietal character”. Needless to say, the Kirks began to see Murrumbateman Shiraz in a new light.

In 1991 Tim Kirk, John's son, made a career defining trip to the Côte-Rôtie in the Rhone Valley and the idea of a Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier blend was born. A year later the first Clonakilla Shiraz with a small amount of co-fermented Viognier was made and received critical acclaim from a number of luminaries. Tim decided to leave his teaching post at a Jesuit school and became the winemaker and General Manager at Clonakilla.

Demand for their wines soon outstripped supply and in 1998 Tim and his wife Lara Kirk purchased the 20ha block next to Clonakilla and planted Shiraz and Viognier on the warm North East facing site. In 2007 the Kirk family purchased another adjoining property and planted another 1.8ha of shiraz, plus 0.4ha of grenache, mourvèdre and cinsault. 

Meanwhile, the range of wines at Clonakilla gradually expanded. In 2000, the first Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz was made from grapes grown around the Town of Young in New South Wales. In 2007 the first Clonakilla O'Riada Shiraz, from fruit purchased from other Canberra vineyards, was made in response to the loss of 90% of the estate fruit to frost. In subsequent years the O'Riada Shira also included the estate fruit that just misses the cut for selection in the Shiraz Viognier.

In the same year, encouraged by the worldwide success of the Shiraz Viognier, Tim decided to release a straight Shiraz (Syrah) from the same estate vines that produce the Shiraz Viognier. The Syrah presents as a darker, more brooding wine than the Shiraz Viognier with a distinct wild berry, potent spice character. This is the Hermitage to the Shiraz Viognier's Côte-Rôtie. It's also rare. No more than 300 dozen are made each year.

It has been a remarkable journey for Clonakilla. When John Kirk planted the first vines in 1971 he had no idea that his vineyard would one day be celebrated as one of the best in the country. Over time something important has become clear - Murrumbateman and Shiraz (in the right hands) are one of those rare combinations in the world of wine that can produce something truly exciting.