International Shiraz Day – Onkaparinga Vineyard
Join us in celebrating the Onkaparinga Vineyard for International Shiraz Day.
One of Clarendon Hills’ best wines produced every year is the Onkaparinga Syrah. Planted to pre-clonal Syrah in 1946 on the westernmost boundary line of the Blewit Springs region, directly adjacent to and neighbouring the namesake and ancient Onkaparinga Gorge. This famous local landmark, the Onkaparinga Gorge was famously forged and cut by glaciers some 100 million years ago. The site has east-west rows of vines. The site is spectacular and home to some of the oldest geology in the entire McLaren Vale zone. This high altitude Blewitt Springs at 270 metres above sea level and is visibly, highly riddled with ironstone. The site recesses at its western edge and where the rows come to an end, the ancient Onkaparinga Gorge immediately begins. It’s a phenomenal location and is completely unique, regionally speaking.
The old vines and ancient soils produce something exceptionally world-class. The low-yielding old vines produce the concentrated fruit that, when picked at the right time, expresses both the vines and the site with amazing fidelity. The high ironstone presence in the soils here highlights an iron filling, ferrous quality in the wine. The resulting perfume is absolutely amazing and utterly world-class. It’s enough to make you fall in love. Incense-like, with all of its various exotic spices, the lift and depth of all of the complexities are just breathtaking. The fruit is deeply entwined with mineral, salami and black olive tapenade notes too. a very savoury experience and the reason so many leading restaurants seek this wine in particular out.
This site was a Penfolds Grange constituent during the 1980 and 1990’s. Clarendon Hills was fortunate enough to pick up the vineyard after the grower complained of mistreatment by Penfolds. The site was instantly recognised for its unique beauty and charm and it has been a Grand Cru Clarendon Hills Syrah vineyard since our first vintage with this site in 2005.
Looking at the recent vertical of 2005 to 2022, it became highly apparent this vineyard accumulates so much added complexity and palate weight and silken texture with the extra years in the cellar. It behaves like a true Grand Cru where the brand release wine, while highly perfumed and exotic and complex, is relegated by decades in the cellar to the point of utter astonishment with the oldest examples.
Ned Goodwin MW from James Suckling.com, wrote in February 2024 in his 2022 Onkaparinga Syrah review:
“From the farthest western edge of Blewitt Springs, a site that glimpses the ocean and is riddled with ironstone. Gorgeous aromas of salami, pithy black fruit and apricots. Gravely, rocky tannins that ready the mouth for the next glass. An impactful wine of immense refinement and gorgeousness. Among the very finest syrahs tasted this year. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.”
97/100 Ned Goodwin MW, James Suckling.com
The recent 2020 Onkaparinga Syrah garnered a whopping 98/100 by Wine Advocate who commented :
“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 Erin Larkin, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
In very recent news, Clarendon Hills recently entered the largest Shiraz-only tasting in the Southern Hemisphere at the ‘Ed Cellars Shiraz Challenge’ on June 30 2024 with its 2021 Onkaparinga Syrah. And we won!! This is the third time Clarendon Hills has won the event and the second time the eponymous Onkaparinga Syrah has won. The first occasion was with the 2006 vintage and 15 years later, we won the 2024 coveted title of Best Overall Shira and Best Shiraz over $50.
In recent times, this vineyard began an eponymous rise to even further lofty heights. We rationalise this as the vineyard gets older, its roots tap even further into the sub-terrain iron-rich clay and interspersed layers of schist and quartz. That and we are getting better at understanding the vineyard and identifying its various parcels picking them individually and making them as separate wines. Our focus on this site has never been higher and it is producing some of the most compelling and exciting wines in our cellar every year. To let you in on a conversation I and the winemaking team have every barrel tasting of the new vintage, is, what’s going to be better? Australis or Onkaparinga Syrah? We really have to thank Roman for identifying some of the most exceptional old vine single vineyards in all of McLaren Vale that produces the highest scores in all of McLaren Vale every year.
