Clonakilla

6 May

Clonakilla is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery.
Only the best of Australia’s wineries best are ranked as a Mattinson 10-Star Winery.

Few wineries anywhere in the world nail the brief, year after year, wine after wine, as well as does Clonakilla, in the Canberra District. It’s little wonder then that life always feels better when there’s a bottle of Clonakilla on the table. Shiraz viognier is the runaway star of this estate but riesling, varietal viognier, cabernet, chardonnay (Tumbarumba) and pinot noir can and do also shine here, as indeed does ultra-low-volume-of-production Syrah (sans viognier). Clonakilla’s more modestly-priced Hilltops Shiraz is almost always noteworthy as well. Clonakilla isn’t just a good winery. And it’s not just an important winery, even though it is that too. Clonakilla is a legend of modern Australian wine.

Every vintage (1997–2023 inclusive) of Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier has been reviewed on The Winefront site since the 1997 release.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com

Clonakilla

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