2010 Clarendon Hills Astralis Syrah

WOW! Give this wine 5-10 years in the cellar and there’s no doubt that it will build up enough further complexity to become a 100 point wine.

Outstanding colour saturation featuring an inky black core that’s totally impenetrable and a very deep black crimson hue. Possessing a perfume like intensity the nose delivers a wonderful array of aromas including ripe blackberries, liquorice and dark chocolate with some dark plum nuances also present. These are followed by some subtle dried meats, vanillin confectionary and blackpepper in what can only be described as a heavenly sniff. The palate has a wealth of richness and power boasting a hedonistic flavour profile and liqueur like concentration with liquorice and ripe blackberries intertwined with black cherries and dark plums followed by some very subtlety integrated toasty oak, dried meat like characters and a long peppery finish. The wines supreme opulence perfectly counter pointed by a solid, slightly chewy and masculine tannin structure that fades into the background beneath the incredible tidal wave of fruit. Outstanding depth and persistence with an impeccably long aftertaste of liquorice, ripe blackberries, blackpepper, dried meats and subtlety toasted oak.
Cellar 15-20 years (2029-2034).
Alc 14.5%

Other Reviews…
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2010 Astralis is still quite primary eliciting aromas of black plums, blueberry compote and blackcurrant liqueur with a savory and baking spice undercurrent plus a fragrant whiff of violets. Very structured, fine and complex in the medium to full-bodied mouth, this wine is revealing much more than when I first tasted it a year ago and is now showing layer upon layer of black fruit preserves, mocha, toast and spices before finishing with great length. Extraordinary wine. Approachable now, it should cellar to 2030+.
100 points
Lisa Perrotti-Brown – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate