Inky purple-red in color with intense depth to the rim. Aromas of sweet rich fruit and lifted cedar oak fill the glass. Abundant blackberry, violets and cigar box roll through the profile adding complexity and interest. The palate is round and silky with dark plum, liquorice, briar and blackberry primary fruits. The rich, toasty oak, and fleshy rounded tannins complete the palate of this dense, flowing wine. This poised and powerful wine is drinking amazingly well but with it's density and presence will cellar impeccably well.
Rare roast beef or BBQ lamb cutlets
"Growers in Barossa for six generations, the Thorn-Clarke family farms close to 600 acres of vines, providing the fruit for this sleek, black-fruited shiraz. It’s silky- smooth, with the concentration and density of flavor that takes the tannins toward blood, iron and sage. A deep, dark wine with pleasure to spare, this begins to show floral scents of roses, then detailed flavors of plums and strawberries after a day open to air. - Joshua GREENE
- Wine & Spirits (December 2023), 93 pts
"The 2019 Shiraz Shotfire Reserve offers a touch more purity and precision, with beautiful red and blue fruits interwoven with sweet spices, menthol, candied flowers, and pepper. It's beautifully textured, has a round, layered mouthfeel, velvety tannins, and a salty, lengthy finish. It's a beautifully balanced, elegant Shiraz with tons to love."
- Jeb Dunnuck (Importer Highlight: Fran Kysela ; July 2024), 93 pts
"Opaque dusty garnet color. Aromas and flavors of milk chocolate and coconut, blackberry syrup, eucalyptus, and pepper bbq sauce with a round, dry-yet-fruity full body and a hot, interesting, medium-long finish that exhibits notes of black berry bbq sauce, mint and eucalyptus, and chocolate sauce and vanilla with chewy, drying, coating tannins and light oak flavor. Knows that it is Barossa Shiraz and wears that moniker proudly tattooed as a sleeve; 10 out of 10 typicity here."
- Beverage Testing Institute (June 2023), 93 pts - GOLD MEDAL - Exceptional
"A deeply fruited, classic shiraz from vineyards at the region's northern extreme, St Kitts and Milton Park in the Eden Valley. Saturated red hue with aromas of macerated black fruits, plums, deep spice, licorice, dark chocolate, tobacco leaf and American oak. That oak comes charging in on the palate, but there is ample fruit weight to support it. Firm, compact tannin provides a base and it's in the classic, muscular Barossan mould."
- Halliday Wine Companion 2023, 94 pts
The name Thorn-Clarke represents the union between two families with deep roots in the Barossa Valley and six generations of grape growing. Cheryl Clarke’s (née Thorn) family were some of ...
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