Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2023

Tyson Stelzer - Shiraz of the Year 2024
Nick Ryan Top 100 Wines of 2024
Tyson Stelzer - Top 250 Australian Wines of 2024

"It is one of our four greatest reds, alongside Penfold’s Grange, Henschke’s Hill of Grace and Cullen’s Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon."  Ken Gargett

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, draws its inspiration from the great wines of Côte-Rôtie and is a masterclass in cool-climate winemaking. It 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.

"Put simply, this is one of Australia’s greatest wines, year after year, and one of only a handful that can be reliably called world class, without hesitation. It is also one of the world’s very best Shiraz Viognier blends, happily sitting beside the best from Cote Rotie. Deep magenta, the nose exhibits all the joy and complexity that we have come to expect from this stellar wine. Focus, balance and seemingly endless length, this also has silky tannins and while there is an underlying exuberance with the fruit, everything is held in restraint. The wine is utterly seamless with fifteen to twenty years ahead of it, with ease. Virtuoso winemaking resulting in a masterpiece."  Ken Gargett

Expert reviews

"The third cool season in a row and the latest harvest in more than a decade has delivered a glorious shiraz viognier of exquisite detail and harmony. Whole bunches (22%) and viognier (6%) seamlessly unite to heighten aromas of violets, rose petals, potpourri, white pepper, fennel seed and curry, providing dimension to a delicious core of satsuma plum, black cherry and blackberry fruit. Super-fine, granitic-mineral tannins trace a magnificent finish and confirm a Clonakilla for the ages. A worthy joint winner of my Shiraz of the Year. Drink 2028 – 2053."  Tyson Stelzer - 98 points and Shiraz of the Year and Top 250 Australian Wines of 2024

"Put simply, this is one of Australia’s greatest wines, year after year, and one of only a handful that can be reliably called world class, without hesitation. It is also one of the world’s very best Shiraz Viognier blends, happily sitting beside the best from Cote Rotie. From a cool year, their third in a row, the blend is 94% Shiraz and 6% Viognier. 22% of the Shiraz was whole bunches and that was co-fermented with the Viognier, via wild yeasts. For maturation, the wine went into French oak barrels, both puncheons and barriques, with one-third of them new. Deep magenta, the nose exhibits all the joy and complexity that we have come to expect from this stellar wine. Focus, balance and seemingly endless length, this also has silky tannins and while there is an underlying exuberance with the fruit, everything is held in restraint. Cocoa powder, truffles, raspberries, spices, aniseed and tobacco leaves, the wine is utterly seamless with fifteen to twenty years ahead of it, with ease. Virtuoso winemaking resulting in a masterpiece. Drink: 2024-2044."  Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot - 98 points

"There can be no question that Tim Kirk’s Murrumbateman masterwork is one of Australia’s most important wines, and this latest release builds on the legacy of previous vintages and elevates it even more. Achingly beautiful and intricately layered, the wine presents a fine tapestry of fragrant fruit and heady spices, moves through the mouth like unfurling silk and finishes with a plume of finely pixelated tannins."  Nick Ryan, The Weekend Australian - 97 points and Top 100 Wines of 2024

"The 2023 Shiraz Viognier leads with wet garden rose, sage, apricot, raspberry, pomegranate and blueberry. The wine is bloody, mineral, very fine and with a honed, wet stone feeling to the tannins. I've tasted Pinot today with bigger, more loose-weave tannins than this superb beauty of a thing. This takes svelte to a whole new level. Once again, this is highly recommended. It's one of my favorite Shirazes from this great country. It is made with 6% co-fermented Viognier. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink: 2024 - 2043."  Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 97 points

"I’ve loved Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier since the 1997 release and I love them from all manner of seasons. But gradually, over time, I’ve come to really prize the results of the cooler seasons, and the 2023 season was one of those. In a wine like Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier, which comes from a micro-climate, seasonal variation makes a distinct difference.

The finesse of this release. The fragrance too, which leads to a palate where just enough, feels like extra. It’s buoyant, juicy and perfumed, with a wild party of spice notes flying through the wine like happiness itself, or like confetti, either way there’s an air here of celebration. This wine sits on the apex of the road, where the rain meets the oil. The fruit flavours have a water-colour aspect; the texture coats the flavour in satin. We’ve come to expect all the above from Clonakilla’s flagship wine. What’s special, for me, in this 2023 release is the web of tannin, as dewy as it is strong. There’s a weave to this release. It’s a masterpiece of twigs, nuts and strings. If Morricone had been a winemaker he’d have made something like this. Orchestral. Spellbinding. Itself. Abandon all resistance, ye who enter here. Drink 2025-2040+".  Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 96 points

"Just when we think we know the Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier style – all those red berries and rosehip aromatics – up pops a couple of cool years one after the other and with them a peppery spice explosion. Following on from the 2022 Shiraz Viognier comes another cooler-than-cool example where the drinker is treated to a wonderful world of spice, fully laden with heady black pepperiness. It’s a wow! Cherry, cranberry, bramble, sage, black pepper, rosemary and spice. It’s a chockful aroma attack. The aromatic intensity is heightened on the palate with black peppery spice a strong feature that also brings real energy, highlighting the bright cherry, red fruits and sage. Tannins are cherry pip savoury dry. Has class and medium-bodied elegance to burn but with a youthful personality that just keeps on going."  Winepilot.com - 96 points

"Lifted, perfumed and complex aromas of damson plums, sandalwood, cocoa, rose hips and dark cherries. The palate is lush with a full-bodied mouthfeel, finely integrated tannins and bright acidity, giving notes of wild blackberries, baking spices, wet stones and orange rind. Exceptional balance of finesse and power. Drink or hold. Screw cap."  James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com - 96 points  

"The colour is medium-deep with a good purple rim and the bouquet is detailed and fragrant, violets and roses, an entire spice cupboard of aromas, with dark cherry to blackberry fruit underpinning it all. The wine is supremely elegant on the palate, just medium to full bodied and finely textured with plentiful tannins that are fine-grained and supple, the finish long and refreshing. Effortless intensity and charm. Drink: 2024-2039."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 96 points

"The flagship is in fine form from this cool vintage, rendering it elegant and quite exotic. Plus, 22% whole bunches in the ferment make an impact. It’s a touch sappy yet laden with heady aromatics - all florals with a dusting of Middle Eastern spices such as sumac. Super peppery. The mid-weighted palate is tight and a touch lean with red fruit accents, bright acidity and fine if plentiful tannins. It’s a wine you keep coming back to as it reveals more and differently. It's lovely and enticing; it feels light and ethereal, deceptive. Time will reward the patient as this builds more complexity, but it is seriously hard to resist now. Drink 2024-2035."  Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points

Awards

Tyson Stelzer - Shiraz of the Year 2024
Nick Ryan Top 100 Wines of 2024
Tyson Stelzer - Top 250 Australian Wines of 2024

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 Côte-Rôties 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.