Clarendon Hills is an Australian
winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...
founded in 1990 by Roman Bratasiuk.
Background
In 1990, Roman Bratasiuk founded Clarendon Hills winery in Clarendon, south of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
McLaren Vale
McLaren Vale is a wine region in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area and centred on the town of McLaren Vale about south of the Adelaide city centre. It is internationally renowned for the win ...
Wine Region in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. The region was selected because of the significant number of old (aged 50 to 90 years) vineyards nearby. The township of Clarendon was established in 1880 by European migrants, who brought with them original French vine cuttings, propagating vineyards across the surrounding hilltops.
Grenache,
Syrah Merlot, Mourvedre, and Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards are sourced by Clarendon Hills within the Clarendon, Blewitt Springs and Kangarilla districts.
Bratasiuk exclusively produces single-vineyard wines, which was unusual when he started in 1990.
![Astralis 1998 and 1999](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Astralis_1998_and_1999.jpg)
In 1996, wine critic
Robert Parker named Bratasiuk wine producer of the year. After this, Astralis became a
cult wine
Cult wines are wines for which dedicated groups of committed enthusiasts will pay large sums of money.
Cult wines are often seen as trophy wines to be collected or as investment wine to be held rather than consumed. Because price is often seen ...
. Two vintages of Astralis (1996 and 1994) were recently included within the "Greatest 1000 Wines of all time 1727–2006" as a result of 15 international MW's collaborating with Scandinavian publisher, FINE.
Clarendon Hills was awarded New World Winery of the Year in 2006 by Wine Enthusiast. Astralis is either the highest or equivocally scored as the best Australian Shiraz/Syrah based wine every year according to US publications Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate.
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History
In 1989, Bratasiuk knocked on the door of a local grower whose fruit he liked the flavor of, and this later became the first Clarendon Hills vineyard. On February 24,1990, Bratasiuk arrived to the grower's shock with a bucket and shears. Bratasiuk picked half the vineyard and returned the next day. This process was repeated in a Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard forming the three single-site wines produced in 1990.
Bratasiuk crushed fruit in a bucket then transferred the contents into one of the three small, ex-dairy tanks. A quick, uncontrolled wild-
yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...
fermentation ensued, the wines were
pressed in a basket press and matured in three separate third-hand barrels. The vintage was finished in 11 days. The process was repeated in the years that followed.
In 1994 Bratasiuk left his job at the Australian Government laboratories and devoted himself to Clarendon Hills. In 1994, he hired his first employee and rebranded his $30 Clarendon Hills Shiraz as 1994 Clarendon Hills Astralis. It was the first bottle in Australia to be priced at $100 and it sold out.
Wines
Clarendon Hills produces eight Syrah, six Grenache, three
Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as one
Merlot and Mourvedre wine. All single
vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...
, single
varietal
A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...
wines are produced from low yielding, dry-grown
old vine
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
* Old, Baranya, Hungary
* Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...
s which are hand pruned and hand-picked. All wines are aged in French oak
barrique
Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods, or as free-floating chips or staves added to wine fermented in a v ...
s.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarendon Hills (Wine)
Wineries in McLaren Vale
Australian companies established in 1990
Food and drink companies established in 1990