Clarendon Hills 2008 Hickinbotham Cabernet Sauvignon
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Clarendon Hills is best known for its Syrah and Grenache, but it is no slouch when it comes to McLaren Vale Cabernet. The 2008 Hickinbotham is full bodied and velvety in texture, with ample notes of cocoa and crisp cassis. Hints of mint and other herbal shadings give it varietal character and welcome complexity. Drink it over the next 1012 years. Joe Czerwinski
All tastings reported in the Buying Guide are performed blind. Typically, products are tasted in peer-group flights of from 5-8 samples. Reviewers may know general information about a flight to provide contextvintage, variety or appellationbut never the producer or retail price of any given selection. When possible, products considered flawed or uncustomary are retasted.
Ratings reflect what our editors felt about a particular product. Beyond the rating, we encourage you to read the accompanying tasting note to learn about a products special characteristics.
Perfect Pairings For Clarendon Hills Syrah Wines
Image courtesy of Clarendon Hills
Enjoying Syrah wine is an exercise in delayed gratification, with many wines requiring a wait of up to ten years before coming into their own. Once you do finally open up a bottle of one of the best vintages from Clarendon Hills, however, the reward typically proves to be well worth the wait.
For those planning to enjoy an older vintage now, or a newer vintage later, here are a few food pairing suggestions to consider:
- Barbecued or braised meats, particularly beef or gamey meatsbrisket, roast leg of lamb, and venison all pair exquisitely, especially with a peppery rub or sauce.
- Grilled vegetables, such as mushrooms, mirror the smoky side of these Syrahs.
- Big, beefy stews or chilis also nicely complement the smoky, spicy notes of these wines.
- Tuna is the best choice if you plan to pair this wine with a seafood dish.
- Hard, aged cheeses are ideal for pairing with Clarendon Hills Syrah.
When serving, keep in mind that the ideal serving temperature for full-bodied red wines like Clarendon Hills Astralis is around 16 to 18 degrees Celsius, or about 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. When opening younger bottles, it may be necessary to decant them for several hours, while more mature vintages will typically need no more than an hour or two to rest.
Welcome To Clarendon Hills
Roman Bratasiuk founded Clarendon Hills in 1990 and embarked on a journey that would irreversibly change the landscape of the Australian wine industry. Trained as a Biochemist, Roman taught himself how to make wine. Romans deeply prophetic vision saw him introduce the single vineyard concept to Australian wine in 1990. Roman also pioneered the Australian Grenache category with the release of Australias first single vineyard, 100% Grenache: the 1991 Clarendon Hills Blewitt Springs Grenache. Roman also unearthed and discovered one of Australias greatest single vineyards with his discovery of the Astralis Syrah vineyard in Blewitt Springs in 1990. Romans undying dedication to his craft over the last 34 years and persistent pragmatic refinement across the last 3 decades has seen Clarendon Hills develop a world-wide, first-class reputation. Romans relentless work highlighting these remarkable old vine Grenache, Syrah and Cabernet vineyards spread throughout the Blewitt Springs and Clarendon sub districts is something to behold.
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The Best Vintages From Clarendon Hills: Choosing Top Astralis And Other Clarendon Hills Wines
The best vintages from Clarendon Hills are exquisite Australian wines worthy of inclusion in any respectable collection.Image courtesy of Clarendon Hills
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Shiraz grapes grow bountifully in the Land Down Under, where the climate is warm and the sunlight shines brightparticularly in the McLaren Vale wine region. This appellation is celebrated for consistently producing world-class Australian Shirazthough Roman Bratasuik, owner of the Clarendon Hills winery, prefers to use this grapes Old World name, Syrah, for his top-rated wines.
Clarendon Hills wines are some of the most collectible and manifestly delectable on the market. They reflect a dedication to quality winemaking and terroir, with many expressing notes associated with only the best Shiraz winesblack fruits, brambles, spice, and licorice. Serious connoisseurs do well to reserve a place in their cellarsand at their tablesfor the very best vintages from Clarendon Hills.
Clarendon Hills Hickinbotham Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
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A Few Of The Best Vintages From Clarendon Hills
First established in 1990, Clarendon Hills quickly made a name for itself throughout Australiaand the rest of the worldas a top producer of quality wines. The winerys flagship Astralis Syrah wines, in particular, are known for their expressive flavors and aromas as well as their longevity, making the best vintages from Clarendon Hills ideal for both drinking and laying down long-term.
Clarendon Hills was around before the big Shiraz boom of the early 2000s, and their wines are among the lucky few to have remained in high demand long after the bubble burstthough luck, of course, has had little to do with it.
Below is a list of the Clarendon Hills Astralis vintages that have received the highest praise over the years, tasting notes summarized from Wine Advocate and .
| Vintage Year | ||
| 2003 | 2011-2027 | Intensely rich and pure, with exquisite balance and a deep complexity. White flowers and dark chocolates and espresso on the nose dark fruits and ripe tannins on the palate. |
| 2002 | 2012-2031 | Compelling, concentrated, with an unctuous texture, this wine offers a bouquet of floral aromas mixed with creme de cassis, cooked meat, and soil, and ripe, pure fruitiness on the palate. |
| 2001 | 2011-2035 | Smoke and florals combine to provide notes of acacia flowers, graphite, and espresso, while delivering sensationally sweet tannins and strong concentration from the first drop. |
Clarendon Hills 2007 Hickinbotham Cabernet Sauvignon
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Chewy and persistent on the finish, which marks this as a candidate for the cellar, this is a richly textured Cabernet from a top McLaren Vale site. It’s admittedly a bit charred in character, with hints of mocha and toast amid the cassis, but the fruit wins out in the end. Try 20152023. Joe Czerwinski
All tastings reported in the Buying Guide are performed blind. Typically, products are tasted in peer-group flights of from 5-8 samples. Reviewers may know general information about a flight to provide contextvintage, variety or appellationbut never the producer or retail price of any given selection. When possible, products considered flawed or uncustomary are retasted.
Ratings reflect what our editors felt about a particular product. Beyond the rating, we encourage you to read the accompanying tasting note to learn about a products special characteristics.
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Review: Hickinbotham Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 The Powerhouse
It would be fascinating to put this Hickinbotham Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 up against 707 or the like. It sure has the guts. An absolute top shelf McLaren Vale Cabernet, and structured to last generations . In fact, that readiness counts against it its a monster.
Oh and do you like the new labels? I think I like the old ones tbh. But that might be a cognitive bias thing. Speaking of cognitive bias, I struggled to rate this for philosophical reasons. Do you call this a Top Gold scoring wine, because of the impeccable structure signalling what it will become? Or do you go a little lower, because the oak is such a dominant force rather than an expression of fruit and terroir?
The winemaking, as usual, is ace. Sourced from 3 blocks on the Hickinbotham property, with the bulk yielding at less than 1.5t/acre. The juice spends 17 days on skins minimum, bottled October 2020 . Numbers, for the interested: pH 3.6 TA 6.4g/l.
Classy oak is indeed a potent feature here. Dark berries meeting coffeed oak. Its deep, dark and very finely polished too. Too much? Its hard to argue with the perfection of the palate otherwise coiffed and ultra-fine, with the most perfect tannins. But Im torn. I see oak on nose, on the palate and through the tannins, while the Shiraz is just glorious from the get-go. Just a teensy bit warm on the finish it is too.
Too young by half, but the perfection of the body is excellent. The plus signs couldnt be more important.
Yalumba 2016 The Caley Cabernet
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A blend of Cabernet from Coonawarra, and Shiraz from Barossa, this is a cool-edged bottling of Caley that needs plenty of time in decanter to reveal its charms. It then rewards with layers of heady aromas reminiscent of dark chocolate, mint, violets, fleshy red currant, cherry, wild strawberry and vanilla bean. The palate is powerful but poised and harmonious, the silky fruit cradled by powerful, chalk-and-spice tannins that indicate a long life is still ahead. A black tie, expensive watch kind of a wine from one of Australia’s most historic producers. Should cellar until 2037 at least. Christina Pickard
All tastings reported in the Buying Guide are performed blind. Typically, products are tasted in peer-group flights of from 5-8 samples. Reviewers may know general information about a flight to provide contextvintage, variety or appellationbut never the producer or retail price of any given selection. When possible, products considered flawed or uncustomary are retasted.
Ratings reflect what our editors felt about a particular product. Beyond the rating, we encourage you to read the accompanying tasting note to learn about a products special characteristics.
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