2023 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier Canberra District 750 ml

Clonakilla is one of Australia’s most iconic wineries, and they’ve reached that status by making Shiraz that’s nothing like any of their peers’.

Their most apt counterpart might be Château Rayas, the $1,000 Châteauneuf whose propensity for aromatic fireworks, grace, and elegance separates it from its peers and turned it into an icon. You don’t have to poke around too hard on the internet to find reports of collectors mistaking aged Clonakilla Shiraz-Viognier for $400 bottles of Vosne-Romanée, thanks to its spellbinding scents, suave texture, and ethereal, endlessly complex fruit.

The 2023 Shiraz-Viognier is one of the best editions of this wine ever. “Once again, this is highly recommended. It's one of my favorite Shirazes from this great county,” the Wine Advocate declared. The publication has devoted plenty of ink to vertical tastings of the wine on multiple occasions, a sign of the esteem the winery commands. 

When Dr. John Kirk bought a farm 25 miles north of Canberra in 1971, he had a hunch that the Canberra region could produce something special, even when locals insisted it was too cold to grow vines. His vision took a pivotal turn in 1986, when his 14-year-old son Jeremy suggested they focus on a minor but high-quality grape variety to make a name for themselves. After thorough research, Dr. John settled on Viognier, which was then virtually unknown in Australia. 

The breakthrough came in 1992. Tim Kirk, John's son—and the current winemaker—had just returned from Côte-Rôtie, his head full of ideas about co-fermenting Shiraz and Viognier in the Rhône style. Until this point, the Shiraz was usually blended with Cabernet, but Tim convinced his father to ferment the Shiraz with Viognier instead of making a white wine from the latter grape. 

The rest is history, and now the Shiraz-Viognier is now considered iconic: It’s one of just 22 wines to be rated "Exceptional" in the magisterial Langton's Classification of Australian Wine. Andrew Caillard of Langton's called it "one of the most important advances in the development of Australian Shiraz since the release of 1952 Penfolds Grange Hermitage."