Clairault Streicker Achieves Best Results Yet in the 2021 Wine Companion
It was another stellar year for Clairault Streicker Wines in the 2021 Wine Companion, continuing our 5 Red Star streak. The 5 Red Stars indicate an outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity.
The Clairault Cellar Release Petit Verdot 2014 was awarded by James Halliday and his team as “The Best of the Best”. After reviewing a pool of more than 9000 Australian wines in 2021, a handful of standouts are chosen for The Best of the Best. The Petit Verdot made it into the Other Red Varieties and Blends category. With a score of 97/100 and a Special Value Star, we only make this wine in years of warm growing seasons.
The Streicker Ironstone Block Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon received an outstanding score of 96/100 with a Special Value Star. Whilst another three wines were scored 95/100, the Clairault Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2016, Streicker Ironstone Block Old Vine Chardonnay 2018 and the Streicker Blanc de Blanc 2015 – it’s highest score yet.
Clairault Cellar Release Petit Verdot 2014
97/100, Special Value Star & Best of the Best
“This rich, luxuriant wine has aged beautifully to early middle age, with plenty more in store. A glossy mid-ruby. Aromas of graphite, pencil lead, blood plum, mulberry and cedar are pixelated by juicy acidity and impeccably honed granular tannins. Coffee-bean-mocha flavours linger long, yet they are a conflation of well judged extraction, the right riff of oak and optimally ripe fruit. Nothing excessive here. Bravo!”
- SOLD OUT -
Streicker Ironstone Block Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
96/100 & Special Value Star
“Hand-picked and gently crushed, to the point that the berries just split, without gleaning excessive astringency. Pumped over for 18 days, three-times per day. The sort of extraction regime more should adopt. Fermentation was then finished in French barriques and aged for 18 months (45% new). Straight cabernet No adulterant agents. A whiplash of cassis, black olive, bouquet garni and clove. Compelling intensity here, with gravelly graphite tannins keeping it all on the straight and narrow. There is no doubt that this rich red will provide riveting drinking in maturity. Now, still structural; almost sculptuesque of composition.”
Clairault Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
95/100
“A pleasure to taste a wine that is firmly of its turf, while offering a savoury, restrained complexion in keeping with the better addresses in this part of the world. Bouquet garni, lead and pencil shavings intermingle with blackcurrant, sage and mint. The oak guides the flavours long while providing a bit of cedar bristle across the seams. This will settle across the long life ahead. Very fine, pointed, graphite-complex, compellingly long and highly regional.”
Streicker Ironstone Block Old Vine Chardonnay 2018
95/100
“This is sumptuous chardonnay, standing out across a range of very fine reds. From the heart of Wilyabrup, this was barrel-fermented across an arsenal of new (33%) to partly used wood, stirred periodically and aged for 9 months. A portion underwent malolactic conversion. Peaches and cream. A luxuriant core of creamed cashew and praline, with vanilla pod oak sewing the seams. An alluvial pulse with a maritime thrum, carrying it long. Very.”
Streicker Blanc De Blancs 2015
95/100
“This ambitious fizz spent 30 months on lees which, to be frank, is just long enough. While there is the salty tang of maritime acidity driving the wine long, it is not high enough to cope with more yeast-embellishment. Well judged! Brioche, lanolin and lots of praline scents mingle with stone fruit allusions and a whiff of jasmine. This is a very good sparkling. Rich, but fresh. Poised and authoritative. It sits in the mouth without any hard angles.”
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Streicker Bridgeland Block Fume Blanc 2018
94/100 & Special Value Star
“Hand-picked, cold crushed and barrel-fermented (33% new oak), remaining in barrel for 9 months. Such a more interesting, drinkable style than the bang-in-and-out styles too often seen. Oak threads a loom of complexity with sauvignon otherwise seldom seen: lanolin, lemon drop, spearmint, red currant and greengage, woven across a quilt of mineral detail and crunch with a seam of great length and calm. Nothing tangy or sour. A very good wine auguring well for mid-term ageing.”
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Clairault Estate Chardonnay 2018
93/100
“Barrel fermented following whole-bunch pressing. Fermented across a judiciously selected oak swag, punctuated by 40% new. A tight wine, marked by classy oak. I mean this in a good way. While there are ample stone fruit scents with an emphasis on nectarine, the oak cladding curtails any precocity, setting this wine up for a bright future for those patient enough. A creamy core of nougatine provides immediate sustenance.”
Clairault Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
93/100
“This is a delicious first cab off the estate's rank. A smidgeon of franc (13%) in the mix. Mid-weighted of feel, with ample fruit honed by a stamp of sinewy, savoury, gently verdant tannic astringency. This works better with a wine such as this: less ambitiously extracted, built for imminent to mid-term pleasure and nevertheless, marked by a fealty to place. Impressive and fine value. Currant, blue berry and anise, if you must know.”
Halley & Lex Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
93/100 & Special Value Star
“Very well put together, the intricate, striking label, the gently spiced bouquet likewise hitting the spot. The medium-bodied palate has all the length you could hope for at the price, its texture and structure the framework for a drink anywhere, any time. Impressive value.”
Clairault Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2018
92/100
“Grist to the regional mill of blackcurrant, satsuma plum, mulch, mint and a sash of sage to black olive-clad tannins. A bit verdant in youth, but I have full confidence that this will settle with patience. Medium to full-bodied and highly savoury.”
Clairault Margaret River Chardonnay 2018
91/100
“A tightly wound chardonnay, still in the grip of its oak handling. Fermented and matured in French wood, with its vanilla-pod-cedar creases dominating a whiff of stone fruits and leesy curd and nougat notes. Time will tell.”
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Clairault Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2019
91/100 & Special Value Star
“Largely tank-fermented, albeit, 22% goes into oak for textural pedigree. The yeast is flavour enhancing, exuding passion fruit to guava notes. Mid-weighted and intense, the wine careens along a rail of tangy acidity mitigated by a slaty rail and a curb of oak. This is all poolside slushy with a wink of sophistication.”
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Halley & Lex Sauvignon Blanc 2019
90/100 & Special Value Star
“Long on flavour, intensity and depth. The ride is a wild one, the wine made to measure for fish soup or other full-flavoured marine dishes.”