Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2023

"This is ridiculous value. If the limited supply, or the price, of their iconic Shiraz Viognier puts you off, but you still want to see what all the fuss is about, you have no excuse not to load up on this wine. From a selection of five vineyards in the Hilltops region, fermentation was over two weeks, with no whole bunches included. The wine spent a year maturing in French oak. The colour here is a vibrant purple and the wine, as always, is beautifully constructed. Alluring aromas with spices, pepper, blueberries and red fruits, dry herbs and raspberries all present and correct. The wine has fresh acidity, silky tannins and a long and lingering finish with near perfect balance. A ten year proposition, if you can keep your hands off it, and good luck with that. Drink: 2024-2034."  Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot - 95 points

"A bit of a chameleon as it first appears spicy and herbal with sweet-sour flavours, then it changes to gutsy and flavoursome with a little meaty reduction. Still finding its way perhaps. It’s inky, with wafts of bitumen and pepper, flavours of kirsch, dark plums and cedary oak. Fuller bodied and fleshy with plentiful tannins; there’s a certain refinement, too, with fine acidity in tow. Drink by 2033."  Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion - 93 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"Medium-bodied shirazes are what you need on a warm day; big reds are just too much. This one is made from fruit grown in the cool Hilltops region outside Young and is made at the legendary Clonakilla winery at Murrumbateman, where the Kirk family has been making wines for over half a century. Think dark cherry fruit with pepper and spice notes and plenty of length on the palate. Young, vibrant and festive thanks to a cool growing season."  Winsor Dobbin, Ciao Magazine

Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 

"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." 

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.

We want you to enjoy your wines as soon as possible and endeavour to dispatch orders as quickly as we can. It may take us a little longer during sales or peak trading periods, so kindly keep that in mind if you are purchasing for a special occasion.

Shipping Cost

Delivery is free on any order of 12 or more bottles to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sunshine Coast, Wollongong and rural Victoria.

On orders of 12 or more bottles to all other areas, we cover a percentage of the shipping costs. Shipping is calculated at checkout.

For orders of less than 12 bottles Australia wide, shipping is calculated at checkout.

Insurance

All orders are fully insured.

Standard Delivery

We use Australia Post and a Specialist Wine Courier (Anonymous Wine Freight) for domestic deliveries. Your location will determine which of these delivery services will be available.

Couriers will not telephone ahead to notify you of time of delivery and delivery on specific days can not be guaranteed.

While a large number of destinations are serviced within 48 hours or less, please allow up to 14 days for delivery within Australia.

Specialist Wine Delivery Service

We offer a specialist temperature-controlled wine delivery service called Anonymous Wine Freight to deliver your wine if you live close to the CBD in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney or Perth, or live in Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Mornington Peninsula or Geelong. If Anonymous Wine Freight services your postcode, the option to use them will appear on checkout. Here is a link to the list of postcodes they service. 

They are highly recommended as they ship in refrigerated transport to climate-controlled warehouses in each metro area before they make their way to your delivery address in air-conditioned vehicles for the last kilometers. In addition, they will even call you by phone at the time of delivery if they encounter any problems.

Please find their delivery schedule below.

Pick-up

If you live in Melbourne, you can pick up your order from our office in Camberwell by prior arrangement. Please select the 'Pick Up' delivery option during checkout and we will contact you to arrange a suitable time for pick-up once the order has been packed.

What if I won’t be home?

If you may not be home at the time of delivery and would like the wine left in a safe place, please give Authority to Leave (ATL) and any delivery instructions in the 'DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS & ATL' at the bottom of the shopping cart, located just above the CHECKOUT button. 

If you have requested delivery with Australia Post and have not given Authority to Leave, a signature will be required on delivery. If you miss the postman, the order will be taken to your local Post Office for collection.

If you have requested delivery with our specialist wine courier (Anonymous Wine Freight), the driver will phone you for instructions if you are not at home at the time of delivery. If he can't contact you, the order will be taken to their local depot and can be re-delivered subject to a $20.00 fee.

Summer Heat Policy

If during hot weather you would like us to delay dispatch of your order to avoid potential heat damage to your wine please let us know. We are more than happy to store your order in our climate controlled warehouse until the weather is cooler. Please add the request in the 'DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS & ATL' at the bottom of the shopping cart, located just above the CHECKOUT button.

Alternatively, we may email you and request to delay dispatch of your order until the weather is cooler. If this happens, you can of course request immediate delivery if you wish.

International Shipping

We deliver wine to a number of destinations worldwide. If you require overseas delivery, please email us with the relevant information and we will advise you if we can deliver to your selected destination and the shipping costs involved.

International orders are supplied GST free. Please be aware that you will be responsible for the payment of all duties and taxes that are levied by your local authorities.

Minimum order requirements apply.