Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Ridge Quartage 2004

Trophy for Best Wine of the Show - 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Trophy for Best Red Wine of the Show - 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Trophy for Best Red Blend of the Show - 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show

It's not often that an inexpensive wine takes out all the major trophies at one of the top Australian Wine Shows, but that is exactly what happened when the 2004 Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Ridge Quartage took out three trophies at the 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show – including the Max Schubert Trophy for the Best Wine of the Show. 

"The palate is big, thick and juicy, the sort of appealing wine the Bordelaise would sell their grandmother to make for this price. Really supple and complete, it's a great exercise in blending and building. A super rich drink but not untidy or unbalanced, the palate is long on black fruit flavour that keeps the punchy oak at bay, finishing long and even. Great value."  Nick Stock

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot, the Quartage is simply an outstanding wine. Dense purple colour; rich blackcurrant fruit, chocolate, liquorice and vanilla on the nose lead into a powerful and focussed palate with wonderful texture and mouthfeel. Abundant lush red and black fruits, vanilla and smoky overtones from the immaculate oak handling, and supple rich tannins all knit together to form a full-bodied, complex palate that has universal appeal.

Expert reviews

"Best wine of show in Adelaide in 2005, this is a great bargain, with bell-clear varietal character. It's an elegant, stylish 'Bordeaux Blend'. It's medium-bodied, the antithesis of the blockbuster reds that can dominate judgings."  Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine - 96 points ★★★★★

"Strong purple-red colour; a potent, youthful and concentrated array of a full range of dark fruit/berry characters; oak and tannins a pure support role; 4 trophies 2005 Adelaide Wine Show. Drink Now-2019."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 94 points

"Fortune smiled widely on Thorn-Clarke in this year's Adelaide Wine Show when this blend traversed the schedule right to the top, taking home the Max Schubert Trophy for best red wine in the show. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec and petit verdot, it has stunning deep colour in the glass and a rich, fruit-laden nose of dark berry fruit, some mint and leaf, cedary tones and plenty of fruit-steeped oak. The palate is big, thick and juicy, the sort of appealing wine the Bordelaise would sell their grandmother to make for this price. Really supple and complete, it's a great exercise in blending and building. A super rich drink but not untidy or unbalanced, the palate is long on black fruit flavour that keeps the punchy oak at bay, finishing long and even. Youthful and just together, tame it with some roast lamb. Great value."  Nick Stock, The Adelaide Review – 93 points

"This really jumped out of a blind line-up recently and when I opened a fresh bottle at home to drink with  dinner, it still looked very, very good – if a little more assertive on the alcohol side than it had initially. Liquid lead, chewed pencils, dust and warm blackcurrant, it is very stylish, appropriately rich, and sings beautifully the moment you pop the cork. Excellent value. Drink: 2006-2012."  Campbell Mattinson, Winefront Monthly - 92 points

"Well, I don't know where they came up with the name, even though it's kind of self-explanatory (the wine is a blend of cabernet, merlot, malbec and petit verdot). I thought perhaps it alluded to a dance, kind of like the lobster quadrille. Whatever, it's all ridgy-didge Barossa fruit of the finest quality, sourced from the low-lying Kabininge vineyard situated on the valley floor.  The Quartage is big without being completely overwhelming. There's a great lifted and perfumed nose that heralds the lashes of big plummy fruit awaiting on the palate. The oak has a pleasing spiciness to it, and I reckon the petit verdot adds a bit of determined fine tannin. Good length. Seriously good and will cellar well."  Divine Magazine

"A giant-killer…It's a seductive wine that delivers a big mouthfull of dark purple fruit and finishes with bold but supple tannin."  Max Allen, The Weekend Australian Magazine

Awards

Trophy for Best Wine of the Show - 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Trophy for Best Red Wine of the Show - 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Trophy for Best Red Blend of the Show - 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Gold Medal (Top of Class) - 2005 Australian National Wine Show
Gold Medal - 2005 Royal Adelaide Wine Show

About the winery

David and Cheryl Clarke (née Thorn) purchased a property near Tanunda in the Barossa Valley in 1987 and set about planting vines. Their family, together with the Thorn family, tended the vineyards for over a decade and sold the fruit to neighbouring winemakers, who turned it into award-winning wines. In 1998 they released a small batch of shiraz under their own label and the Thorn-Clarke story began.

Today Thorn-Clarke is one of the largest family-owned wineries in the Barossa Valley and are the custodians of 240 hectares of vineyard. Three of their vineyards are in the Eden Valley; the Mt Crawford Vineyard is at the southern end of the Eden Valley, while the Milton Park and Sandpiper vineyards are further north in the Eden Valley. Their 4th vineyard is at St Kitts, at the northern end of the Barossa Ranges. Only the high quality grapes are retained for the Thorn-Clarke label, which has resulted in a succession of trophy and gold medal–winning wines.