As expected the wine is young and buoyant with a highly fragrant perfume of red fruit fresh blackberry violets roasted meat and a little tar; the palate reveals the true potential of this superb wine with a cascading array of flavours and thrillingly silky tannin poised acidity and a peacocks tail on the very long and precise palate.

Super-complex and meaty this time around. The flagship Clonakilla shiraz viognier has abundant sweet musky aromas, deli meats, light summer berries and Marco Polo tea aromas – sweet and exotic indeed. The trick here is the effortless balance, elegant structure and gently rounded shape of the palate, as it harbors concentrated red and dark berry fruits, hard brown spice flavors, gentle chocolate and fine-grained tannins that glide long through the finish. Seamless and all too drinkable now, it will continue to build beguiling complexity for many years ahead.

Medium to deep garnet in color, the 2008 Shiraz Viognier presents very youthful blackcurrant and black plums aromas accented by cloves, tree bark, some sage and a whiff of bacon. Medium to full-bodied, this more structured style has medium-firm, grainy tannins, vibrant acid and a long, concentrated finish. Drink it now to 2024+. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Clonakilla shiraz viognier is often a beautiful drink straight out of the blocks - you can cellar it but it provides a richly hedonistic drinking experience from the day of release. This 2008 though is going to need some time. It's a dense headstrong wine chocked with blackberry soy eucalypt and cherry-plum flavours and flecked with trademark pepper spice. It has all its components in place but it isn't up and running yet. What strikes you about the wine as a youngster though is its nebbiolo-like shape. I've not seen this in a Clonakilla shiraz-viognier before. It's almost light through the middle before being strong and authoritative through the finish. Lighter in flavour but stronger in impact perhaps. It should be great as a mature wine. --Campbell Mattinson

Purple black and opaque in color with a thin magenta rim the bouquet is initially focused and narrowly sculpted with minerals spices cocoa powder and black cherries. Much broader with some time in the glass the underlying minerals with hints of underbrush sage and fuzzy tannins support a pure fruit flavor that is dark mysterious and intriguing. Full flavored yet never weighty thanks to integrated acidity this wine also possesses an underlying hint of iodine and grilled meat. This is Cote Rotie and Hermitage with Aussie flavor. The acids keep the fruit from being brooding or heavy. The long finish is filled with fruit and hardly any tannins as a fine coating of iron flavored minerals make up a fine thread. One of Australia's landmark wines this is Cote Rotie and Hermitage with Aussie flavor and will cellar for up to ten years.

Like the 2007, the 2008 includes 6% Viognier and used 20% whole bunches, matured in 30% new oak. A very primal nose that blossoms in the glass to reveal violets, black cherries, plum, a touch of kirsch, a hint of bacon fat developing. The palate is full-bodied, very rounded on the entry, supple red-berried fruit, a touch of cooked meat, wild strawberry, very elegant and finely tuned on the finish. This is a more feminine style of Clonakilla, beautiful. Drink 2011-2018.

This 2008 Shiraz Viognier is beautifully perfumed and expressive as it bursts with apricot, red currant, earth and clove aromas. There is also a lovely combination of elegance and power, offering generous mouthfeel while remaining silky and supple before finishing with serious length and balance. At peak but will also hold for another decade. -- Angus Hughson