Kirrihill Vineyard Selection Series Clare Valley Tullymore Vineyard Shiraz 2012
If one wine in our Cuisine shiraz tasting summed up the appeal of this great Australian wine type, it would be this immediately inviting and generous wine, with its lovely cherry, berry, violet and vanillin aromas. A thread of lightly coconutty oak doesn’t intrude and the smooth, ripe, seamless palate is backed by beautifully fine, soft tannins. Its balance of fruit character, concentration, oak and acid balance is nigh on perfect. A worthy number-one shiraz.
Top wine profile
Clare-sighted
Wine is in the blood of Kirrihill’s senior winemaker Hamish Seabrook, whose unbroken family wine tradition dates back to his great-great-grandfather, who founded WJ Seabrook’s Melbourne-based wine-merchant business in 1878. Today, Hamish’s presence in the heart of South Australia’s Clare Valley continues a link to the region promoted by his ancestors to the wine drinkers of Melbourne. Kirrihill was set up in the late 1990s by South Australian vignerons, the Edwards and Stanway families. Today, Hamish makes wines that respect regional tradition, coupled with an eye to innovation, as in our top shiraz. "The year 2012 will be known as one of Clare's great vintages," he says."The Tullymore Vineyard fruit comes from a select block that year after year has produced medal-winning wines, ever since the first crop. Even in poorer vintages, it stands out as wine with the utmost pedigree and regional typicity, and commands enormous respect.” And what would Hamish eat with this top drop? "You wouldn't go wrong with a beef rib roast with potato gratin, or braised short ribs,” he says.