Review: Thorn-Clarke Single Vineyard Selection Barossa Shiraz 2018

Their labels were always a bit simple if you ask me. I recall their Quartage got quite a lot of traction back in the day, at least here in Canada. I was hearing all sorts of good things about it so I bought a couple of bottles and put them away. Here we are, years later, and I still haven’t opened a bottle. For the record, they’re 2001 Quartage, another six months and they’re twenty years old.

I used to be a big Shotfire Q fan, in fact that’s the only wine I really liked in that particular range. Used to love them a decade or so ago, went thru many vintages and all were good. one or two sublime. Then i had a mediocre year and left them for probably near on a decade. I believe they used to be by a woman back then, but some fella took over.This May, I saw the 2017 Quartage in Danny M’s and bought two. In a way I hoped I bought only the one as I found it somewhat thin for a wine in the mid late twenty price bracket. You can get a hell of a lot better for cheaper that’s for sure. Dollar for dollar, Lake Breeze from langhorne Creek thrashes Shotfires.

But that’s wine. As far as a twenty year old shoty goes, good luck.

I just received a Thorn Clarke newsletter with their James Halliday ratings for many of their wines.
The 2017 Shotfire Quartage got an 89 i believe. Now to our overseas readers, a JH Australian score of 89 is not the equivalent of an overseas 89. It would probably be an 81 overseas. Therefore a pretty damn average wine, one that you would certainly not go out and buy. And this fool bought two because of a love affair from the past. Bad mistake by me. Normally I would not touch a JH wine under 96 as 95 means absolutely nothing to me. But like DeCaprio in catch Me If You Can, We concur on this 2017 Shotfire ! It’s extremely average.

Hey Beefarmer, on the topic of points, and 89 in particular, I recall a friend and collector who once said of Parker points that he found that he enjoyed the 89 pointers more often than the 90 pointers. I guess the point I’m trying to make is about palate preference. Parker is known for preference for big wines and sometimes the more subtle wines did not fare as well in his reviews. I can’t say much about JH’s palate preferences but do know about his reputation for inflated scores. Since you didn’t care for the 2017 Quartage my advice is to forget about your remaining bottle and see what it does with time. I have found that even cellared wines that have appeared to have gone flat can sometimes turn the corner. Just a few days ago a wine that was so-so a few years ago, the 1998 Charles Cimicky ‘Daylight Chamber’ Grenache (Barossa), had blossomed into a beautiful, perfumed, sweet-fruited and savoury wine.

I gave up on points a long time ago and instead focus on producer reputation. Now with regard to vintages, I steer toward the top tier ones in weak vintages and the lower ones in strong vintages.

Cheers.

You are of course correct Mahmoud but I did receive an official reply from them for which i was greatful after I wrote of my disatisfaction.
Hi XXXXX,

Thanks for reaching out.

We’re sorry to hear that the 2017 Quartage wasn’t to your liking. 2017 was an unusually cold vintage which meant that wines out of the Barossa in that year were not “classic” Barossa.

However, we are confident in our 2018 Quartage and in fact, feel it’s the best we have ever made. The 2018 Quartage will be available in 12 months’ time or so. We hope you try it when it’s released and rekindle your love of the wine.

So not a bad reply as you would appreciate…

My reply to them went something like this –

Hi XXXXXX

I fully appreciate your quick and honest reply. In terms of classic Barossa, there are some wines that succumb to the expression ‘overcooked’. Gladly that has never occurred with the Quartage. I have never tried some of your upper echelon wines due to the fact that my taste world falls into the more affordable range. Over the decades I have enjoyed many vintages as I mentioned. Although I tried a few Shirazes, they never quite did it for me. The finesse and body of the Q was always a standout.

Can I tell you that every year I make my own top 6 list. As I search back looking for the Q I found that I gave the 2008 my number 6 in 2011 and one of my all time faves the 2006Q, number 4 in 2013. It is ironic about the year 2013 because I was recently musing about the wine that had 2nd spot for me in 2013, perhaps the best chadonnay I have had in my life, the Victoria Mooroduc Estate C 1999. For the Q to grab fourth was impressive. What took out my top 2013 was a Reschke Bos Cab 2004. Sublime.

So you mention something that has pricked my ears and let me make an offer to you. A bold statement coming from the family with you as their representative to suggest that the 2018 Q might be their best.

Let me be the judge of that Brooke, and would you be so kind to send me a bottle next year so I could rekindle my passion ? Free advertising is always a risk but if you are confident, believe me you will have nothing to lose and plenty to gain.
My cellar presently would only have a handful of anything 2018 or younger.
Nice hearing from you.

Now I would try anything to get a freebee whereas Andrew our host here has them coming in thick and fast and free.