$38.99
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Region: Clare Valley, SA
Grape: 79% Shiraz and 21% Mataro
First Glance: Dense, structured, spicy
Acclaim: 94+ points
Adelina is an exciting small producer out of the Clare Valley, SA, led by Colin McBryde and Jennie Gardner. The focus here is firmly in the vineyard, where an extreme attention to detail, and a bunch of pristine old vine material, allows the team to craft wines that are very honest expressions of the soil and season from which they are drawn. The estate has been working with organic practises for years, and are officially certified since 2020.
Impressively, most of the Shiraz for this bottling comes from two very old-vine sites planted in 1904, with a little support from younger vines planted by the current team in 2013. Both varieties ferment as whole berries (all in concrete), followed by eleven months in 700-litre seasoned French foudre.
The review:
94+ points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
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.
