Simon Gilligan

9.0

Buying at the budget end while travelling is like throwing dice, but this Rioja Reserva (1 year in oak, 2 in bottle) delivered nicely at around 11€. Balanced, black/raspberry fruited, earthy, bit of spice, leather, gravelly tannin. If I find another bottle I’ll buy it! Ronda, Spain — 6 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.4

Global Champagne Day 2018...Why not?

@Casey @ Travelling Corkscrew I'm not going to sabre this one, maybe another time. Nice post/feature today.

Seemed excessively frizzante when we opened the bottle, more mellow after an hour, quite nice. Lightly brioche, the Chardonnay is more prominent tonight. Light caramel on under-ripe peach, delish. At hour two, lightly saline, red fruit arrives, the terroir is making an appearance. — 7 years ago

Deb Machin

10

This is actually from Monterey County. It's semi-sweet and should not surprise you if you finish the bottle by yourself! Our absolute favorite! — 8 years ago

Chris N

9.0

France 2017 🇫🇷 sweet fruit explosion followed by a travelling dry taste that lingers waiting for the next sip.. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.0

A very big wine in all respects. A certain amount of earthiness with plum on nose with a less than perfect coarseness and astringency. From these 100+ year old vines deserves to be better than this. Chose this wine tonight as we are travelling to the Hunter Valley tomorrow for the Annual Launch on Saturday of the latest vintage of Maurice OShea. The 2014 is one of the greatest vintages in the fickle Hunter Valley for decades. 99 points from Halliday and a potential 50 year wine. Edited note 2 days later - Halliday spoke at the launch and said it was a potential 100 year old wine.!! — 9 years ago

Pip Davidson

9.1

Rosé after a day travelling to paradise... Not too strawberry, not too sweet, not trying to be a Rosé! Just a nice wine — 9 years ago

Andrew Whittle

Co-Owner/Director Summit Estate Wines

9.4

Beautiful balance & length - travelling well — 10 years ago

Andrew Whittle

Co-Owner/Director Summit Estate Wines

9.3

2001 vintage - was worried I had left this too long but it is travelling well - nice and rounded in every way! — 10 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.1

Travelling well at 7 years but not made for the long haul. Light to medium crimson with tawny aged rim. Savoury Cherry aromas with forest floor/compost heap. Light to medium weight but with M plus intensity and soft tannins. An excellent Australian Pinot and amazing value - I remember paying around $45. — 6 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Coffee Mocha and Blackberry notes. Medium plus intensity finishing with fine Tannins. One of the Barossa’s old vine icons - Stonewell. From the cooler slow ripening Top quality 2002 vintage. Travelling easily in its 16th year with a strong core which will ensure another 5 to 10 years but pretty compelling right now. — 7 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

On the nose; ripe, syrupy dark currants, blackberries, sweet slightly liqueured dark cherries, black plum, black raspberries, blue fruits, dark fruit gummy bears, tarry notes, black pepper, soft leather, dry brush, black licorice, caramel, dry crushed rocks, loamy dry top soil, violets, lilacs and lavender. The body is warm, thick, ultra rich, lush & elegant. The tannins are round & velvety but still have strength...50% resolved. It has another 10-12 years of good drinking ahead. The fruits are gorgeous & ripe; blackberries, sweet slightly liqueured dark cherries, black plum, black raspberries & lots of blue fruits & strawberries that paint the palate on the long set. A fair amount of tarry notes, black pepper, dry herbaceous notes (bay leaf), dry black olive, medium dark spice, dark chocolate, caramel, vanilla, clove, soft leather, dry brush, black licorice, dry crushed rocks, loamy dry top soil, violets, lilacs and lavender. The acidity is round & excellent. The long fruit driven finish is beautifully lush, elegant, well structured with near perfect balance. Photos of; Owner/Winemaker Roman Bratasiuk, their old gnarly 80-90 year old and low yielding vines and two of their vineyards. Producer history and notes...Clarendon Hills was founded in 1990 by Biochemist Roman Bratasiuks. Roman sought to further his passion for great wine by making some himself. Roman never trained as a winemaker. He planned on using his insight as a wine taster and scientist alike to dictate decisions. Roman sought to make a version of the wines he loved. The beginnings of Clarendon Hills effectively started in 1989 when he knocked on the door a local grower whose fruit he liked. A great friendship grew from from this by chance knock on the door. A handshake ensued and it became the first Clarendon Hills vineyard. On Saturday 24 February in 1990, Roman with just a bucket and secateurs arrived. Much to the growers shock, he began picking fruit himself. Roman started at 6 am and finished at 9 pm that evening; he picked half the entire vineyard himself and returned on Sunday the 25th to finish it. This process was repeated in a Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard which formed the 3 single site wines produced in 1990. Crushing was performed by Roman using empty bottles to squash the fruit in a bucket, then transferred by that bucket, to one of the 3 small ex-dairy tanks all bought for $100 and a quick, non-temperature controlled wild-yeast fermentation ensued. The wines were pressed in a borrowed basket press and matured in 3 separate third-hand barrels. The vintage was finished in 11 days. Much to Roman’s delight the wines were superb and they sold. With the money he bought more buckets, three more barrels and rent for a shed to house wines. The process was repeated the next year and the year after that. Clarendon Hills grew from his determination. This one man had to make wine after work and on the weekends after his 9-to-5 job. A local news paper even ran a story "Tin shed wines take on the world"; which made Roman cringe but slowly Clarendon Hills grew, it afforded him more equipment to make the process less labour-intensive and slowly grow his vineyard repertoire. In 1994, Roman left the Australian Government laboratories and devoted himself to Clarendon Hills 100%. In the 1994 vintage, Roman hired his first employee and rebranded his $30 Clarendon Hills Shiraz as 1994 Clarendon Hills Astralis. It was the first bottle in Australia to be priced at $100. It sold out. Roman went on for many years, making and selling the wines himself. Travelling the world over to show people the wines he made. Roman figured since he made the wine, he was the most logical choice to sell and represent his wine. This worked out so well, he continues to show the wines himself. Clarendon Hills produces; 8 Syrah, 6 Grenache, 3 Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot and Mourvedre wine. They are all single vineyards single varietal wines, produced from low yielding, dry grown old vines which are hand pruned and hand picked. All his wines are aged in high-quality French oak barriques. Quite a brilliant success story. This is also another wine I acquired on the secondary market for much less it’s release price and far less than their current release prices. It starts as a 9.3 with a half-hour decant. However, as it gets to an hour and half decant plus, it just gets better & better. Works it’s way to a 9.5 in a hour decant. — 7 years ago

Dave

8.9

Very sweet- honeysuckle notes — 9 years ago

Andrew Whittle

Co-Owner/Director Summit Estate Wines

9.6

A real surprise - big fruit - travelling very well — 10 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.1

Tasted on board Qatar Airways travelling from Doha to Kigali. Always liked Torrontes from the first time I tried it in the WSET Classes. A tropical fruit character with notes of guava. Lush and mouthfilling with stacks of flavour. Low acid- drink now. — 7 years ago

Gillian Kennedy

9.0

Canada. Wow what a surprise! It’s good. We had a glass, then ordered a bottle. We are travelling through the Cypress Hills. Where this is made. We normally drink Argentinian Malbec. — 7 years ago

Karla Bounds

9.0

Good with some sweets really good with meat balls!! — 8 years ago

Davina Garrod

8.9

Golden honey rising up into the sky of my palate. It's a 2014 but tastes more mature - as if it's been travelling for a long time, in a good. — 8 years ago

Maree Nicholls

8.9

Worth travelling to the great southern for this amazing Single Site Chardonnay 2011. Lovely nectarine and stone fruit on the noes with lemon blossom this wine make you imagine drinking the perfect Chardonnay before it has even touched your lips. — 9 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

From the acclaimed 2005 vintage this burgundy shows cherry overtones. A fragile palate which seems to change minute by minute. A vibrant enjoyable wine travelling with ease. — 10 years ago

Leonard Huot

9.7

A wonderful find while travelling France — 10 years ago