2020 Clarendon Hills Syrah Collection
Introducing the latest release for Clarendon Hills Syrah, the 2020 vintage.
Clarendon Hills Syrah – 2020 Release
Clarendon Hills has been focusing on freshening things up for our customers and our ambition is to serve young, highly polished and perfectly weighted new releases, more youthful than ever before. You have to taste these wines! When they are at their youngest, the fruit is at its most illuminated and magical and we’ve been working on aligning our new releases with ultimate drink-ability and approachability, from the 2020 vintage onwards. This story began a number of years ago and long story short, we’ve adjusted things we do in the vineyard, and in the winery to deliver on these promises. Some of you will remember it all started earlier this year with the release of our 2020 Grenache. This vintage was rolled out earlier than ever before in March of the year following bottling. By July we already had sold out of the Romas. So we’ve taken the decision to start releasing the Syrah wines likewise, earlier than ever before to our members. Now, queue international critic Wine Advocate and their reviews of the 2020 Clarendon Hills Syrah rate our 2020 Astralis as the best Syrah in South Australia this year with the highest score of 98+/100. There are 488 Syrah’s in South Australia if you are wondering and Clarendon Hills has achieved the following reviews. Likely the strongest Syrah scores of any other winery in South Australia. We are most pleased with the highest ever scores on the Liandra, the Sandown and Onkaparinga Syrah’s. Reflecting our relentless pursuit of perfection.
We have also made the adjustment to DIAM in the 2020 vintage and the wines have never been better. So clean. So fresh. So complex. So…not corked! So highly rated. The DIAM we use is the best money can buy and it will last 30 years or more in the cellar and are 100% free from cork taint. So literally every bottle is ready for maximum enjoyment. Trust me, they are so delicious. They are all ready to enjoy now. You won’t be disappointed opening all of the wines now and drinking them all this weekend. Responsibly, of course.
Alex Bratasiuk, Director
2020 Domaine Clarendon Syrah
Made with fruit from the Rockleigh Vineyard, the palate on this 2020 Domaine Clarendon Syrah is full of rocks and shale. I love the life and spice here—this has energy and intensity and concentration through the finish. Outstanding.
95/100
Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin, September 2022
2020 Liandra Syrah
This wine comes from a single vineyard, with 25-year-old vines. Very pretty nose! The 2020 Liandra Syrah shows hints of bergamot and black tea, floral and fennel spice. This is a gorgeous wine—supple, excellent. I love the tannins, which are pliable and flexible. This is the Eden Valley Shiraz of McLaren Vale: mineral, dark and thrilling. It is stylistically quite different from the other Clarendon Hills wines, and I love it for that.
96/100
Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin, September 2022
2020 Sandown Syrah
The fruit for this 2020 Sandown Syrah is from the Sandown vineyard in Blewitt Springs, from 1930 plantings. This is aromatically so different from the 2018. Wow. Savory and dense, this has roasted lamb fat and Sichuan, a touch of hoisin and star anise too. There is also clove bud and licorice root, all of it just on first sniff. After that is mulberry and red licorice, and coming in on the palate is a wave of bright freshness. For all the excitement on the nose, the palate shows a sinuous life and vitality. All the spicy framing just serves to boost the fine fruit. This is kaleidoscopic and morphing, ever moving, almost dappled. Substantial.
97/100
Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin, September 2022
2020 Onkaparinga Syrah
The 2020 Onkaparinga Syrah is exotic and riddled with roast meats, black olive, graphite, iodine, minerality, Sichuan and pink peppercorns. Superb. Christ. How this will make it through the gauntlet of cellar raids and make it into old age, I don’t know. Magical.
98/100
Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin, September 2022
** There is a new label on the Onkaparinga Syrah to reflect its legendary status.
2020 Astralis Syrah
It’s hard to know what more one could ask from this wine. The fruit in the 2020 Astralis Syrah shows rippling prowess—albeit a little frisky at this early stage in its life—polish and intensity that reverberates in the mouth. It has energy and thunderous poise; the tannins, fruit and acid are all completely in balance. Immune to hyperbole. This is not the big wine that everyone thinks this is. The rollout of flavor in the mouth is measured; initial, mid-palate and resonating through the long finish. It is exotic, spicy and magic. Really, really delicious. 2020 yielded half the volume of vintages 2021 and 2022 (which were virtually on par with each other).
98+/100
Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin, September 2022
** The highest scored Syrah in South Australia in the report
