Winemaker Notes

#36 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2022

Named for the street on which the vineyard is located, Brooks Road Shiraz exhibits the compelling single site character of the vineyard. 2019 Brooks Road exhibits the compelling dynamic between savory and fruit flavours which is textbook Shiraz from Clarendon. Sweet blueberry and rich red fruits interlace with notes of clove and menthol. The palate is expansive but pure finesses with a beautifully balanced acidity leading to a silky finish.

Professional Ratings

95 Wine Spectator

Impressive, rich and fleshy, with blackberry, blueberry and huckleberry notes at the core, but shows tremendous depth, concentration and polish. Offers accents of bittersweet chocolate, espresso, salted caramel and rosemary, backed by velvety tannins on the finish, with the flavors gaining extra torque and momentum. Drink now.

95 James Suckling
This has such effortless depth and impressive measure. It delivers aromas of ripe red and dark plums with slate and blackberries, framed in fresh, subtly spicy and cedary oak. The palate is packed with ripe red plums, red cherries and mulberries, as well as deeper blueberries and darker plums. The power is innate and the palate so focused. Elegant and pure. Drink over the next decade or more.

95 Wine Enthusiast

A broodier bottling than the more gregarious 2020, this vintage still offers oodles of concentrated dark fruit, a slightly charred veg note, toasty spice and a frame of fine, cola-like oak influence. Constructed for the long haul, with intensity and focus, a lift of acidity and muscular, chiseled tannins woven between the supple fruit and spice.

92 Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Marked by notes of vanilla and creosote on the nose, the 2019 Brooks Road Shiraz follows those opening salvos with blueberry and plum fruit, cedar shavings and dark chocolate. It’s medium to full-bodied, supple and ripe, with a plush feel and a long, licorice-tinged finish. There’s ample concentration and power, but the wine is already approachable and I’d expect it to age relatively quickly. Drink it over the next decade or so.

91 Wine & Spirits
The team at Yangarra started bottling wine from their Hickinbotham estate in 2012. The dry-farmed vineyard in Clarendon produced a shiraz with the meatiness and bloodiness of rare roast beef, backed up by McLaren Vale tannins that add a black mushroom savor. It’s smooth and ripe, a pleasure with filet mignon.