CLARENDON HILLS ASTRALIS

MCLAREN VALE, AUSTRALIA 2011

“Clarendon Hills produces some of my favorite Australian wines and readers looking for flavor, personality, and pleasure should seek out these limited production gems.” – Robert Parker

As Clarendon Hills is considered one of "The World's Greatest Wine Estates" by Robert Parker, it is their flagship Astralis that is truly an icon and an Australian benchmark. Over the last two decades, Wine Advocate has awarded eight vintages 99-points or higher, including two perfect scores, with Wine Spectator considering the wine a "powerhouse Shiraz." Getting ahold of a bottle of Astralis, let alone a library vintage, is an extremely rare feat considering its minuscule production and the stunning display of power, grandeur and hedonism packed in year after year. Yet through chance, we stumbled upon the last remaining 6-packs available in the country of the 2011 vintage and couldn't resist making them available to you today.

Founded in 1990 by Roman Bratasiuk, the estate is located 25 miles south of Adelaide in McClaren Vale. Located 300 meters above sea level, Roman works with single vineyards from three separate microclimates, including Blewitt Springs, Clarendon and Kangarilla. Although temperatures in the area can spike, the elevation of these vineyards provide perfectly sustained temperatures, giving this wine a freshness and structure reminiscent of a Northern Rhone Hermitage, and in fact Roman prefers to label his Australian Shiraz as Syrah. Dedicated to dry farming and extremely low yields from 85-year-old, pre-phylloxera vines, Roman's non-interventionist approach along with his preference for purity of fruit inspired him to produce one of Australia’s most prodigious Syrahs. Explosive and captivating, it is the product of extremely labor-intensive work in the vineyard with all of the vines hand-pruned and grapes hand-picked. Using wild yeasts for fermentation, the wine spends 18 months on the lees in 100% new French oak from the cooper Cadus. The wine is then bottled unfined and unfiltered. 

The 2008 vintage was recently re-reviewed by Wine Advocate and jumped to a 99-point score a decade after its initial release, proving that Astralis is the type of wine that only gets better with age. 100% Syrah, the 2011 Astralis is a purple-inky beast with layers upon layers of complexity and flavor. Powerful and opulent on its release, time in the bottle has given the wine polish and refinement - plush, round and beautifully balanced - with so much more left to offer. The 2011 oozes flavor, with dark cherries and plums complemented by chocolate, anise and baking spices as well as perfectly supple tannins and fine acidity. As these are the last bottles available in the country directly from the winery, we suggest taking advantage of our special Concierge Sales offer and securing your orders as soon as you can before we sell out forever. This is a must for anyone's collection.