Australia contains arguably the greatest collection of historic vineyards and multi-generational wine families in the “New World”. The world’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Mourvedré and Syrah vines are located in Australia, often times connected to the same set of families that planted them over a century and a half ago. This great history with the producers of both the grapes and the wine shows how rich and dynamic Australia’s wine culture is. However, the stories of intrepid individuals born outside the royal wine families can be equally awe-inspiring. Roman Bratasiuk began his career as a biochemist for the Australian government. In 1989 he made his first vintage, hand-picking all of the fruit himself and fermenting it much like an ill-equipped MacGyver brewing beer in the wilderness.

He found his vineyards by tasting the fruit and establishing a relationship with the growers; his winemaking informed by his love and palette for world-class wines. This untrained maverick became a legend in half a decade as his fifth vintage of shiraz -newly renamed ‘Astralis’- was universally hailed by critics and quickly sold out, despite being the first ever Australian wine released at $100! Clarendon Hills is the story of a stubborn man who followed his passion and intuition and subsequently achieved great success. Roman now produces 19 wines, all from a single vineyard and varietal using many traditional methods. This month’s wine utilizes the warm McLaren Vale’s wealth of old gnarly Grenache vines from the Clarendon vineyard. These warm climate wines show great softness and fullness of fruit, whilst this cooler vineyard site provides lightly floral and fresh character.

This mouth-filling red exhibits supple dark fruits with mild tannins. We find characters of blueberry poptarts, blackberry liqueur, Asian spice and dark new leather. The nearly nine years of age further soften the texture and integrate the flavors, bringing more subtle savory characters to the fold.