Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2011 Australia

Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2011 from Hilltops in New South Wales in Australia, Clonakilla literally means ‘meadow of the church’ and is the name of the founder’s grandfather’s farm in County Clare, Ireland. Dr John Kirk founded Clonakilla vineyard at Murrumbateman, 40 kilometres north of Canberra. In 1997 Tim Kirk, the fourth of John's six sons, took over the responsibility for winemaking.

The grapes for this Shiraz were selected from three vineyards in the Hilltops district around Young in New South Wales, the Canberra District .s closest neighbouring wine region. Soils are deep red loam over light clay, giving distinctive blackberry and blackcurrant notes to the wine.

The grapes were destemmed and fermented warm together with no bunches. The wine was matured for 11 months in French oak, 15% new. The wine was racked once during its maturation in oak and bottled in late February 2012.

This wine is a medium ruby core with wide ruby rim and with slow legs. The 2011 was a cool vintage and produced elegant fine structured wines ( and not as deep as the norm for this wine). The wine has black and red berry aromas on top of floral notes (violets), followed by a black pepper edge and a certain meatiness. On the palate, savoury ripe tannins enrobe the black berry and red currant flavours, there is fresh acidity  and the alcohol feels low and structural (12%). There once more is a fine floral note and a herbal sandalwood edge, this feels elegant, multilayered and complex on the mouth and the length is long with finely etched flavours. There is a perfumed quality to this wine that hints at a Viognier content - Shiraz Viognier a common mix - but this could be from the cool vintage.

This is available to purchase from Slurp at a cost of £16.95.
Score : 86

Benvenuto de la Serna Mil Piedras Viognier 2010 Argentina

Benvenuto de la Serna Mil Piedras Viognier 2010  made with estate-grown fruit from a single vineyard located in the Valle de Uco at 1100m above sea level in a semi desert climate, long sun hours and little rainfall. Benvenuto de la Serna is a small family winery owned by Silvio Benvenuto who is an Italian immigrant and the winemaker is Angel Mendoza who was at Trapiche for 20+ years. The wine is made from 100% Viognier and has not seen oak, fermented in Stainless steel before bottling.

Floral honeysuckle aromas overlaid with tropical notes including lychee and apricot are echoed on the palate after a definite carbon dioxide 'spritz', this reduced after a few minutes, but felt uncomfortable initially. The alcohol was medium but out of kilter with the wine, Viognier can have a flabbiness to it, but this felt in the wrong place for the wine. The alcohol was as expected, quite high in alcohol and low in acidity but well integrated and the silky texture was pleasant. The wine lacked real fruit promised by the aromas so was a let down, feint flavours of lemon, apricot and grapefruit pith bitterness butlinear in nature, left one wanting more. This is a shame because I often feel that Viognier packs a real punch of aromatics that follow through to the palate, but this had been reined in far too much - a pity!

Score : 75

Cono Sur Vision Viognier 2008

Cono Sur Vision Viognier 2008 from the Colchagua Valley comes from a block of vines which in 1997 had been grafted onto 50 year old Chenin Blanc  - hence its freshness. Adolfo Hurtado is the winemaker - a name that is heavily linked with improvements in the Pinot Noir coming from Chile these days.

This wine is a delight, it is pale golden straw, a hint at the high alcohol associated with Viognier is seen in the fast legs that form after swirling the glass.
Aromas of tropical fruits mingle with apricot and an overiding waft of citrus and solid minerality.
On the mouth once more - tropical fruits, a hint of oak ( spice and richness), kiwi and melon and citrus - followed by a long citric finish with a cleansing bitter edge with structural minerals playing their part. The wine is fresh ( for a viognier) and has good body along with quite high but integrated alcohol , 13.9%, typical of the grape again. At the price - about £6-7, an absolute bargain - a wine to be enjoyed with or without food!

Another plus point with Cono Sur is that they have been working towards being carbon neutral for many years, and that can only be good for the environment - so I say drink more :-)

Cave Saint Pierre Cote du Rhone Blanc made by the Skalli family 2006

Cave Saint Pierre. Preference. Cote du Rhone Blanc  Skalli  2006
The Skalli family, a great  Southern France wine making family, make a selection of wines from the Rhone (mainly S Rhone) and this is a simple wine which is great with food, it retails at about £6 and is a mix of Grenache Blanc, Viognier and some Clairette. This golden wine has aromas of apricot, pear and a little tropical fruit, on tasting it we found that it was mouthcoating, spicy fruits and a pleasant citric finish that was creamy but maybe a little hot, it was great with food as it had good acidity and was creamy. Great wine for the money!