2021 Adelina Shiraz Mataro - Clare Valley

Certified organic. The 2021 is a blend of 79% Shiraz and 21% Mataro. The lion’s share of the Shiraz is drawn from a historic vineyard, owned by Jim McDowell and Anne Brown since 1987, but originally part of Wendouree and right next door to Adelina’s Old Block Shiraz. Specifically, the fruit is from the ‘Old 14’ and ‘Experimental’ blocks, both plated circa 1904. There’s also a swig of Shiraz drawn from Adelina’s Block 7, planted in 2013. The Mataro, from Adelina’s dry-grown bush vines, grows on slightly leaner soils of red sands with clay.

If you like intense savoury reds then this could be the wine for you. Savoury and spicy you get a rich tapestry of red cherries and blackcurrant, blackberries, bramble and something that is a cross between bacon fat and sunday roast. Acids drive this wine keeping it juicy but are corralled by the fine powdery tannins. Sunday lunch anyone?

“Blueberry, blackberry, a dusting of black pepper and clove, grilled meat, liquorice. Medium to full-bodied, blue and black fruits, a subtle tang of orange zest, toasted nuts, silty and sticky tannin, acidity quite lively here, earthy too, a little peat and dried herb, with a tight and tangy finish of excellent length. Slate character on the finish, and again the orange peel offering a subtle bitterness. A little elemental as at now, but a lot of wine in the glass. Needs a couple of years I suspect.”

94+ points - Gary Walsh - The Wine Front