Country / Region : McLaren Vale, Australia
Year : 2009
Grape Variety : Shiraz
Style : Full, Fruity, Spicy Red
ABV : 14%
Drink By : 2021
The Winemakers
Kangarilla Road Vineyard & Winery is based in McLaren Vale South Australia. It was established by Helen and Kevin O’Brien in 1997. Kangarilla Road is the main road running past the vineyard towards the small village of Kangarilla, the name a derivation of the Australian Aboriginal language and refers to the abundance of resources locally. Kevin O’Brien is an oenologist with 20 years experience in the wine industry. Helen O’Brien brings flair to Kangarilla Road and has extensive experience in the public relations, promotions and fashion industries.
Our philosophy is really quite simple – to produce wines that we enjoy drinking – wines that can be enjoyed with or without food and with friends.
The Wine
The major percentage of this wine is from our McLaren Flat vineyards. These vineyards located at the northern part of the foothills ripen later than other sub-regions resulting in “cooler climate” spicy aromatic dark berry driven wines with intense mid to back palate presence and an abundance of soft velvety tannins. These wines tend to develop best in French oak, however second and third use American oak also provide great depth. Other components are sourced from both the Blewitt Springs and Seaview areas where soils range from mostly deep sands to red earth on limestone. The resultant wines display spicy bold dark plum characters. The final component is from a vineyard in the Sellicks sub-region which is very close to the sea. Shiraz ripens early here also with very low yields; the wines have herbaceous characters with firm Cabernet like tannins.
Aromas of lifted spicy dark fruits and rose petals. The spiciness ranges from black pepper to allspice with nuances of sweet earthiness. There are lively juicy dark fruits on the mid palate with generous yet approachable silky fruit tannins and integrated oak giving this wine incredible length of flavour.
2009 James Halliday (91 pts)
2007 Robert Parker (90 pts)
2006 The Wine Gang (90 pts)
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