Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard Brooks Road Shiraz 2022

Concentrated and bright in the glass, there’s plenty to unpack on the nose. Wild spice, red berry intensity, black plum skin, all wrapped in some toasty yet balanced oak, allowing the fruit brightness to shine through. A slatey minerality and dark chocolate silt jostle with anise spice-studded charcuterie. This is cracking stuff, and it should be given the combo of site and winemaking prowess of Napa legend Chris Carpenter and our own Pete Fraser. Yes, it’s still tight-knit and a rather densely fruited Shiraz, but there’s real energy and brightness at its core. Tannins are multitudinous with an al-dente chew, and acidity is fresh and lifts through the compact fruit and brambled spice. A Shiraz which straddles old and new, bold and bright. There’s so much here, be sure to decant or give it some cellar time if so desired. Points: 95/100

Wine Pilot ∙ 16th Aug 2025

It takes a bit of aeration in glass before this Shiraz, from a cooler corner of McLaren Vale, releases its grip on the cocoa-dusted raspberry, plum licorice and dried herb aromas. Once they’re set free, those layers are hard to stop smelling. As if sensing the more intensely structured vintage, the reins seem to have been loosened a bit on the palate to allow for succulent, silky fruit amidst dusty, chiseled, well-placed tannins. Drink now with protein and over the next decade. Hickinbotham. Points: 94/100

Wine Enthusiast ∙ 2nd Jun 2025

20% whole bunch 30% destemmed and berry sorted and 50% crushed to open top fermenters. 20 days on skins and kept on lees in 30% new French oak puncheons. A further 12 months in French and Austrian 25 hectolitre foudres. A pool of dark berries, Holly, bilberry and blackcurrant. There is a generous spread of olive tapenade that leads back around to a halo of blue tinged fruit. Prune and blueberries. Oak shows in maple and red oak, undercurrents of savoury tobacco and carob too. Just when you think this may be quite a heady wine, acidity dances in with light feet, making for a medium bodied but grainy textured drop. The Clarendon potency is all here with a nod to dried herbs and wildly fragrant spices. A complex and detailed wine that you can ponder for hours and marvel for days. Drink now or will cellar well for another 6-8 years. A bucket list pairing would be a hearty pork and mushroom pie with gravy poured down the centre funnel. Lode Pies signature Pithovier would do it justice. Points: 96/100

Wine Pilot ∙ 1st May 2025

The 2022 Shiraz Brooks Road impresses with its style and substance. On the nose, lashings of blackberry and cherry compote aromas develop underneath meaty and spicy tones. It has a deliciously overt vibrancy and energy as it bursts with flavor, fresh acidity and powdery tannins, which build a strong, linear finish that combines to offer a strong medium-term proposition.  Points: 93/100

Vinous ∙ 23rd Apr 2025

From the original contour planted 1971 vines; 20% whole bunches, 30% destemmed and berry sorted and 50% crushed; matured for seven months in 30% new French puncheons, the rest in one- to two-year-old oak, then racked to older French and Austrian 2500L foudre for 12 months. This is amply generous, with blackberry tart, raspberry compote, tapenade and black plum, but picked at the right time and made with a typically deft touch by Peter Fraser. It’s a wine of intensity, verve and impressive harmony, with an elegant sheen of oak tastefully applied. Points: 96/100

Halliday Wine Companion ∙ 9th Aug 2024

A classy, polished, consummately detailed, full-bodied shiraz. Not an ounce of flab or extraneous sweetness on its refined structural bones. Anise, blue fruit, grilled meats and mace on the finish. Tension across its classy oak and grape tannins. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.  Points: 95/100

jamessuckling.com ∙ 2nd Feb 2024