The wines made from Rhone varietals begin with a new entry to the Clarendon Hills portfolio, the 2007 Mourvedre Liandra. It was sourced from relatively young vines and aged in 2 year old French oak for 18 months. Purple-colored, it reveals a superb bouquet of underbrush, tar, licorice, blackberry, and blueberry. Sweet, round, and layered on the palate, this intense, full-flavored effort, will benefit from 1-2 years of additional cellaring but will be approachable in its youth. This is a fine debut indeed! In a sign of the times, pricing for Roman Bratasiuk’s Clarendon Hills portfolio has been reduced by close to 50% across the board. Suddenly, most of the wines offer an excellent price to quality relationship. As usual, the Clarendon Hills wines are unblended, 100% varietal, sourced from mostly old-vine, ungrafted, single vineyards, fermented naturally, and bottled without fining or filtration. Only seasoned oak is used for the Grenache bottlings, 100% new French oak for the Merlot and Cabernets, and 50-100% new French oak for the Syrahs depending upon the cuvee. There is a new addition to the portfolio, a Mourvedre sourced from 12 year old vines and aged in 2 year old French oak. The year 2007 was more difficult than the three that preceded it, marked by a 45-50% reduction in crop levels and elevated tannin from the resulting thick skins. As Bratasiuk notes, “Tight, drying tannin is the hallmark of the vintage.” Nevertheless, this is an impressive collection from one of Australia’s icon wineries.Importer: E & J Gallo, Modesto, CA; www.clarendonhills.com.au