Gaelic Cemetery Shiraz 2006 Clare Valley South Australia
$99 $121
This is great……and here’s why!
93/100 - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 94/100 - James Halliday
98/100 - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (2005 Vintage)
Silver - Mundus Vini
Grand Gold - Mundus Vini (2007 Vintage)
Silver - Mundus Vini (2008 Vintage)
Silver - International Wine Challenge (2012 Vintage)
Only 200 dozen made
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - "..A saturated opaque purple in color, it exhibits a brooding nose of pain grille, lavender, mineral, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur. This is followed by a dense, layered, succulent wine with terrific integration of oak, tannin, and acidity. Give this lengthy effort 3-4 years of additional cellaring and drink it from 2013 to 2026...The 2006 Shiraz was sourced from the low-yielding Gaelic Cemetery Vineyard in Clare Valley. It was aged in new French oak and bottled without fining or filtration. "
James Halliday - "Strong blackberry, prune and licorice aromas and flavours, with a spicy, fine tannin finish."
James Halliday "Gaelic Cemetry hinges on a single vineyard, planted in 1996, adjacent to the historic cemetery of the region's Scottish pioneers. Situated in a secluded valley of the Clare hills, the low-cropping vineyard, say the partners, ‘is always one of the earliest ripening shiraz vineyards in the region and mystifyingly produces fruit with both natural pH and acid analyses that can only be described as beautiful numbers'. The result is hands-off winemaking."
Gaelic Cemetery produces limited quantity, super premium wines. The five-star rated, multi-award winning winery is a joint venture between celebrated winemaker Neil Pike, internationally acclaimed viticulturist Andrew Pike and well known Adelaide wine retailers, Mario and Ben Barletta.
Gaelic Cemetery has a strong focuss on sustainability. Minimal use of water for irrigation, under vine mulching to reduce moisture loss, mid row cover cropping to encourage microbial activity in the soils and using only organic based fungicides and pesticides are just some of the measures undertaken and all part of the mantra in the vineyard. The wines themselves are packaged using fully recyclable materials including the bottles, corks, screwcaps and cartons.
Clare Valley is the northernmost wine region within the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia, located 130km north of Adelaide. Riesling reigns supreme in this region. The drier styles are recognized as some of the best in the world. In fact, the very best examples are considered to provide benchmarks of quality. The wines are particularly famous for their depth of classic Riesling flavors – of exotic citrus, lime and orange blossoms, crunchy apples with a healthy dose of minerals, and crisp natural acidity. The top wines can also be cellared for 20 or more years. Clare Valley's red wines based on Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are also highly regarded. Some of these wines vie with the best produced in Australia.
Shiraz is the name given to the dark-skinned Syrah grape when grown in Australia and selected pockets of the New World. Though genetically identical, the stylistic differences between Shiraz and Syrah are usually pronounced.
Shiraz is so important to Australian viticulture that it is the most planted grape variety in the majority of Australian vineyards and has become virtually synonymous with the country's wine regions, and in particular the Barossa Valley.