Additional information
| Weight | 1.467 kg |
|---|
Clarendon Hills Sandown Syrah 2023
$90.00 / bottle
Hailing from the prestigious Sandown property located in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale where the sister wine, Sandown Cabernet Sauvignon originates. The old Sandown Syrah patch was planted in the mid 1930’s and yields a microscopic few bunches per vine or around 300 dozen every year. The western facing patch and features significant ironstone and quartz sub-terrainial content. The wine is intensely perfumed and very individual. Earth, sandalwood and signature incense like spices throughout the fruit and makes for a highly exotic expression of Blewitt Springs Syrah. Cola, sarsaparilla, incense, blackcurrant, blueberry, black olive, fine Italian leather and roasted meat are all on display with recessed power woven throughout this highly perfumed and multi-layered, seamless example. Seamless in its majesty and highlights a weightless power. Magic.
Specifications
RegionRegion
Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale. A sprawling hillside region 10 kms North East of McLaren Vale town centre famous for its added comparative elevation and abundant hillside aspects whose rich ironstone and deep sand deposits forge individual and highly fragrant wines. Sandown Syrah is a single vineyard wine from a patch of old gnarly old vines that are dry grown and low yielding. This old patch was planted in the 1930’s and the site has a Western aspect. It's located at the South Western edge of Blewitt Springs at roughly 2010-230 metres above sea level. The site terroir represents Blewitt Springs famous deep sands, although this site recesses in to an old creek bed and darker loams integrate with the sand and there's fleck of pebbled ironstone, quartz and shale throughout the subterrainial layers.
Conditions
The 2023 vintage was the third La Niña growing cycle in a row of vintages since 2021. The markedly cool and late ripening seasons of La Niña, of the 3 last vintages, 2023 would turn out to the latest overall picked and best overall vintage of the trio. The relentlessly wet winter of 2022 continued in to a wet and warm and unusually humid spring time encouraging optimal canopies and fruit set. However very mild summer ensued and the vineyards did not record a 40 degree Celsius day for the Summer, which was unique. The mild Summer delayed the onset of veraison as a result. Autumn soon arrived and so did perfect sunny 21 degree weather every day coupled with very cool nights. Eventual full maturity came approximately 3-4 weeks later than the already late 2022 vintage. The result: amazingly exquisite fruit with preserved acidity and remarkable floral aromas. Some of the most exceptional fruit that we have picked in recent years. Throughout the entire production process from grapes approaching full ripeness, at the crusher, in the tank, in the press, out of the barrel and in to our glasses the 2023 wines have demonstrated another very special layer. The floral component and perfectly portrayed fruit core gives these wines a an uncanny precociousness to them.
Winemaking
Low yielding, dry grown vines from the Blewitt Springs region in McLaren Vale were hand-picked and followed by a 60% whole berry, wild yeast fermentation. All pressings were returned to barrel and eventually bottled onsite without fining or filtration after 18 months in French Oak.
Maturation
18 months, within a hierarchy of 1-5 year old tightly grained French Oak. Bottled at the winery with no fining or filtration.
Grape Variety
100% Old Vine Syrah, vines planted in 1930
Closure
DIAM
Production
3000 bottles
Winemaker
Roman Bratasiuk
A cool year, and maybe anomalous for some, but I love the best wines from '23. And this is in that cohort. Also, this is the best syrah release that I can recall from this address. It may not satisfy those after highly charged offerings, but the quality and character are undeniable. Here, there’s a silkiness to the palate, a glide of fruit, texture and keenly extracted tannins, all knit in, quietly composed. The fruit profile is red but, happily, nothing pokes out, with the interest lying in the array of floral and spice notes. Bergamot tea, sandalwood, dried rose, sweet pipe tobacco, dukkah … it’s no more than medium in weight, but it’s so intensely flavoured. Beautiful wine.
96/100
Sandown Syrah 2023
- Wine Companion, Marcus Ellis
The 2023 Sandown Syrah is earthy and mineral and spicy, perhaps my favorite of the single-vineyard Syrahs tasted here today. While this has all the floral tones and black fruit of the Onkaparinga and the Liandra, this shows a decidedly more red/brown spectrum of spice: sumac, hung deli meat, crushed rocks... It's bloody, earthy and savory, excellent. Super. 13.1% alcohol, sealed under Diam.
96/100
Sandown Syrah 2023
- Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin
