REVIEWS

Clare Valley Shiraz (Archive)

GOURMET TRAVELLER WINE OCT/NOV 2005

Huon Hooke's Best New Releases

2002 Mount Horrocks Shiraz Clare Valley , A$35

90/100

Savoury spice flavours and cedary French oak combine to give a complex, deep and mellow shiraz with subtle vegetal, herbal undertones. Abundant smooth tannins impart a fine but persuasive structure.

Good drinking now or in the next ten years.

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JAMES HALLIDAY

Australian Wine Companion 2006
Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Shiraz 2002
94 points
Spotlessly clean; intense, concentrated, focused blackberry and dark plum fruit; perfect structure and balance.
Drink 2022 $35.00
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HUON HOOKE
For the Cellar

The Sydney Morning Herald

Good Living Magazine August 9 2005
Mount Horrocks Shiraz 2002 $37
Let it breathe and it shows its true worth as a lovely smooth, savoury, French-oak influenced shiraz of real charm. Hints of herbs, asparagus and mixed spices. The tannins are ample but smooth. Best now to 2015.
Food: moussaka.
Stockist: Five Ways Cellars, 02 93604242
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MAX ALLEN
TOP DROPS OF THE MONTH

Australian Gourmet Travaller August 2005
2002 Mount Horrocks Shiraz Clare Valley, SA $35 Complex aromas surround the black cherry and plum fruit at the core of this shiraz: leather, herb, anise and black pepper. Enjoy now, or keep in the cellar for up to 10 years. Drink with star anise-braised lamb shanks.
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JOHN FORDHAM
wine of the week

The Sunday Telegraph July 3, 2005
2002 Mount Horrocks Shiraz ($34)
Very classy Stephanie Toole-made Clare Valley red with loads of balanced peppery flavours and finesse.
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UK WINE INTERNATIONAL, MAY 2005

The Pick of the Crop

Mount Horrocks Shiraz 2001, Clare Valley SA  

As the Clare Valley 's reputation for Rieslings grows, it can be easy to forget that its climate produces some wonderful reds too. Alongside Stephanie Toole's excellent Riesling, was a Cabernet/Merlot, and this lovely Shiraz . Very intense, tight, sweet blackcurrant and berry fruit, smooth tannins, and a hint of cooling mint. Long length. Drink 2005-2010.

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MAX ALLEN
TOP DROPS OF THE MONTH
Australian Gourmet Traveller, July 2004
2001 Mount Horrocks Shiraz
Clare Valley, SA, $38
ONE FOR THE CELLAR
Upon opening, this shiraz eludes you. It ducks and weaves across the palate, hinting at violet, licorice-like intensity. Give it some time and some air in a big glass, though (or a few cellar years), and it opens up to reveal lovely black fruit and firm but supple tannin.
Drink with pan-fried liver.
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RALPH KYTE-POWELL
UNCORKED in the Age Epicure, 11 May 2004
Mount Horrocks Shiraz 2001
Rating: $$
Stephanie Toole’s Mount Horrocks reds are less rugged than some Clare Valley efforts, making them delicious for either drinking now or mid-term cellaring. This classy, screw-capped shiraz has ripe plum and berry fruit, touches of sweet spice and a subtle robe of oak. It tastes smooth, round and elegant, with a very long finish and soft tannins.
Ageing ? Drink over six years
Food ideas : Little fillet mignons; braised rabbit
Stockists : Due for release within a few weeks – ask at your local wine shop $37-$39

Mount Horrocks 2000 Shiraz
Melbourne Age
Epicure – Jeni Port
Tuesday 13 August 2002
Clare’s bold power gets a French cut with whole bunch pressings and some fancy French (not American) oak. Hooray!

Mount Horrocks 2000 Shiraz
Sydney Daily Telegraph
FOOD & WINE – Jeff Collerson
Wednesday 26 June 2002
Just 900 dozen of this wine were produced from a pair of mature, unirrigated vineyards. This is an intensely flavoured Clare Valley shiraz with a bold personality. The full-bodied palate is chunky and is loaded with abundant rich plummy flavours. A serious tipple for those who like a robust style.

Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Shiraz 1999
Advertiser
TOP 100 - Philip White
Wednesday 21 November 2001
(91+ points; $38; 13.5 per cent alcohol, drink now to 2010)
Typical topnotch Clare, with Stephanie Toole's red-wine-making trademark of tight, ungiving, very precise structure. This is elegant but very complex shiraz, dense and dry. It reeks of prune and truffle, and its palate is seamless and juicy, finishing with firm, grainy tannins. It's lovely wine now, and it will only grow lovelier.

Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Shiraz 1999
Sydney Daily Telegraph
Jeff Collerson
Wednesday 25th April 2001
Owner/Winemaker Stephanie Toole produced this intensely-flavoured dry red from unirrigated, old vines, some planted a century ago. While most Australian producers tend to put shiraz into American oak, Toole opts for the greater finesse imparted by French wood. An opulent, warmly-flavoured red awash with blackberry-fruit characters.

Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Shiraz 1999
The Advertiser
FOOD & WINE - Philip White
(89++ points; $38; 13.5 per cent alcohol, drink 2004 to 2012)
This is very tight, humourless shiraz, true to the very best of Clare. It's tense, intense and withdrawing at this very youthful stage, and whiprod stiff. It has dark reeks of bitumen and blackberry bush, coffee and cassis, and gentle spice-box oak. The palate is as tight as that bouquet indicates: there's long, velvety, tapering tannin over juicy, sweet, ever-so-slightly leathery fruit. This is a serious one for your cellar - give it at least a few more years, and it will bloom.