Description / Reviews
"Sean O’Riada is one of the heroes of modern Ireland. A talented musician and composer, he is credited with taking traditional Irish music out of the kitchens and pubs of Ireland and putting it on the concert stages of the world. He died, prematurely, in 1971, the year Clonakilla was established by John Kirk. He was John’s cousin. 2024 was a beautiful vintage. Good spring rain, warm summer days, cool nights and a glorious early autumn. The O’Riada is a quintessential Canberra Shiraz, fully charged with spice, floral notes and ripe red fruits." - Winemaker Notes
"Given the fruit is off the estate and from three other properties, this is an excellent drink, in a finer style. A gorgeous purple-red hue and so fragrant with florals and red fruits (from raspberries to currants) all doused with baking spices and a sprinkle of black pepper. The palate is barely mid-weighted yet finely tuned with silty tannins and acidity that gives life. Up there as one of the best O’Riadas to date." - 95 Points, Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
"Sweet raspberry coulis, red cherry and cranberry leap from the glass, followed by a lovely countervailing of balsamic, wood smoke and woody baking spices — nutmeg, cassia bark. Things deepen with air to show cocoa powder, subtle dark chocolate, blackberry and gentle plum. Very alluring and complex. The palate is lifted and vibrant while maintaining intensity; it glides across the mouth with sweet spice, plum, blackberry, cherry cola and cocoa powder. Elegant and intense at once, with grainy, fine-but-firm integrated tannins. Cocoa powder bitterness permeates a long finish where the acid surges and rolls in waves. A classy O’Riada, and a classy wine in and of itself." - 94 Points, Tom Kline, Wine Pilot
