The Auswine Forum

For those that do not know, Clonakilla is a cool climate Canberra region winery (Murrumbateman, NSW actually) established in 1971 that has a reputation for producing Australia's greatest cooler climate Shiraz Viognier and two excellent value "second labels", the Hilltops Shiraz (now with a splash of Viognier) and a Cabernet blend (now called Ballinderry). John Kirk founded the winery and now is the chief viticulturalist and Tim Kirk, one of John's sons, is the chief winemaker.

Yesterday however, I opened Clonkilla's newly released white wines:


The 3 wines taken on my phone's camera


2006 Clonakilla Semillon Sauvignon Blanc – 12.5%
Upon opening, the wine displays cool, steely, mineral characters on a lime base with hints of fresh grass and melon. As the wine opens, more tropical, lemonade and lemon flavours come to the fore with nettle spice and nutty complexities very prominent, but its cool climate characters always remain. The palate is broad, fresh and creamy and finishes clean, flinty and very satisfying. This is a very classy example of this blend. 90/100 (17/20)

Interestingly, I would have picked this wine as a Riesling if served blind upon opening.


2006 Clonakilla Riesling – 12%


The Colour

Intense and aromatic. Minerals, slate, lime, ripe green and red apples of excellent depth swamp the palate with very fine, fresh, superbly integrated, crunchy, slightly chalky acidity of supreme elegance and length. Like biting into a fresh, ripe apple whose juices explode in your mouth. Despite its depth, it has a light, crafted presence. 93/100 (18/20), drink whenever you feel like over the next decade.

I have not been a fan of Clonakilla Riesling in previous years, but the 2005 and this 2006 have changed my view of what Clonakilla can do with this variety and have firmly established Canberra as one of Australia’s premium Riesling regions.


2005 Clonakilla Viognier – 14%


The Colour

I have mentioned that I was not a fan of Clonakilla Riesling, well I was not been a fan of Viognier at all… until this wine. This is the greatest Viognier that I have tasted. Furthermore, it proves that Viognier does not need to be dominated by apricot. In fact, I could not find apricot in this wine at all, a touch of apricot kernel though.

Creamy, deep, sumptuous palate of musk, pear, melon, white peach, cinnamon, cream, butter and vanilla with hints of apricot kernels/nuts controlled by the most marvellous structure I have witnessed in a Viognier that keeps full control, resulting in no dominant or cloying aspect, whilst providing superb texture, a massive back palate and a long finish of vanilla, spice and cream. There is restraint within the wine that suggests it will appreciate another 6 months in the bottle. 95/100 (18.6/20).

What can’t Clonakilla do? Well, Tim Kirk would say Pinot Noir but I would like to see him give that a more serious attempt!

Kind regards,
Adair

Adair,

When you say 'the greatest Viognier that i have tasted' does that include any wines from Condrieu? Or is your opinion based only on Australian examples? I.e. how does it compare to The Virgilius or Petaluma Viogniers?

I'm yet to taste the Clonakilla, but have been keen to do so, the thing that has held me back is the $50+ price tag. Based on your notes i'm tempted to buy one and damn the expense.

Cheers
Cheyne

Cheyne wrote:Adair,

When you say 'the greatest Viognier that i have tasted' does that include any wines from Condrieu? Or is your opinion based only on Australian examples? I.e. how does it compare to The Virgilius or Petaluma Viogniers?

I'm yet to taste the Clonakilla, but have been keen to do so, the thing that has held me back is the $50+ price tag. Based on your notes i'm tempted to buy one and damn the expense.

Cheers
Cheyne

Hello Cheyne,

I have had a number of Condrieu including a handful around the $AUD100 mark but nothing has excited me, although I do suspect that by the time we get Condrieu in this country they are past their best. I remember a 2001 A. Rostaing La Bonette that was particularly disappointing.

I have had a number of vintages of the Yalumba Virgilius and despite its complexity, power and texture, I have never wanted a second taste due to what I find to be a cloying texture, unbalanced to my way of thinking.

I have not had as many Petaluma examples, but from memory I liked the fact that the Petaluma was not going for the same level of ripeness, but seemed to lose texture and power in doing so.

Buy a bottle of the 2005 Clonakilla Viognier from the cellar door. I think there is still some, even if you need to pay a few dollars in freight. You may as well try the best!

Adair

I'm inclined to agree with your assessment of the Clonakilla 2005 viognier. It's not often I drink out my bottles of an $$$ white while it's still on release, but I'll be needing to get a bit more of this. A casual dinner recently with the 2005 viognier and then the 2004 shiraz viognier was pretty fine.

I quite liked the palate-weight and mouthfeel of the 2004 viognier, and took a while to come round to the 2005, but yep, it's really good.

While Tim is continually experimenting with the riesling and SBS blend, I suspect there are other wineries in the Canberra district to check out first for those whites. Ken Helm's recent trophy-winning riesling works for me (the premium, not the classic dry), but the 2002 Mundoonen riesling (still available) was a top ten finisher in the national riesling challenge and is a cracker.

Hello Paul,

Thank you for your comments, especially being from the area.

When I made my "Canberra as one of Australia’s premium Riesling regions" comment, I was definitely considering Helm but also Lark Hill, Gallagher, Brindabella and a few others I have had over the past 5 years or so that have impressed. However, as alluded to, I have only recently thoroughly enjoyed the Clonakilla.

Thanks for the tip about the 2002 Mundoonen. I have not heard of it.

FWIW, I think the 2005 far better than the 2004 Clonakilla Viognier... much better structure in the 2005.

With regard to the 2006 SSB, I really enjoyed that the wine did not go into the green and very grassy aspects and was not overtly flavoured like many other wines with Sauvignon Blanc in them.

By the way, are there SSBs from the Canberra region that you would recommend? I really did not know the region for producing such wines of real greatness.

Kind regards,
Adair

I've bought some SSB blends from Brindabella Hills in the past, but I can't say it's a widespread blend in the region. Quite a few vineyards have sauvignon blanc in, but few also grow semillon.

At the botrytised end of things, the SSB blend that Jeir Creek does is worth a look (as is their riesling in good years, and the multi-vintage red bubbles). While they don't have an SSB blend, Mount Majura's riesling is excellent.

Where I help out at (Quarry Hill), we have SB but not semillon, along with pinot noir, shiraz, and new plantings going in this year of tempranillo and albarino. All we need to sort out is the license...

The shiraz focus of our plantings is a clear trend in the area. As Tim Kirk says, "it's shiraz country here". Ironically, the trend away from cabernet is basically to do with risky ripening, but with the climate-change temperatures of some recent vintages some of those cabernet plantings could have come through well.

I still think there are some steep and rocky sites in the district that will do well with pinot noir, but this hasn't really happened yet. In part, I think this is due to vine age, but site selection, one-size-fits-all viticulture, and a reliance on contract winemaking (tending to use more industrial processes than fiddly pigeage and wild ferments) has also held pinot here back a bit.

Must say I have never been a fan of Tim Kirk's riesling. Lacks nerve and minerality for my palate.

Nice TN's though Adair - like the pics. You'll never convince me to drink a bottle of viognier though.

Cheers

Paul

PaulV wrote:Must say I have never been a fan of Tim Kirk's riesling. Lacks nerve and minerality for my palate.

I had the same issue with Clonakilla a few years ago. In fact, I remember saying to Tim a few years ago that his Riesling was too broad.

PaulV wrote:like the pics.

I have already been given a lecture from Attila about how to use even a phone camera to get my focus right.

PaulV wrote: You'll never convince me to drink a bottle of viognier though.

I am surprised you even bothered to read the tasting note!
Seriously though, this is the first Viognier that I would recommend to you.

Kind regards,
Adair

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Sean wrote:Your Viognier tasting note mentions things like cinnamon, vanilla and spice. I was wondering if it has some oak influence, giving it structure as well. Has it seen any oak?

Absolutely - from the back label: Barrel fermented entirely in French oak using only natural yeasts

Adair