CLAYMORE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON SHIRAZ 2022

Gold Medal – Intercontinental Wine Challenge 2024

Full bodied, voluptuous and richly fruited Clare Valley Shiraz that is, as the name would suggest, dark as dark. This is no hold barred great drinking for lovers of the full on Clare Valley style. And if you are into the matching of wine and music, the power and brooding nuance of this wine makes it the perfect accompaniment to the Pink Floyd album of the same name.

Winery notes (2022 Vintage)
"Aromatic dark berries and black cherry fruits sit alongside subtle notes of aniseed, licorice root and spicy, smoky oak notes. This is a brightly attractive wine that shines with the immediate appeal of youth. That darkest of black cherry fruits continues in the mouth, sitting comfortably alongside notes of tart jam and berry coulis dark chocolate and white pepper. The tannins are gently drying and persist on the finish, carrying those primary fruit flavours into the back palate. While restrained in the mouth, held in check by balancing natural acid and those integrated tannins, there is a moreish appeal to the dark fruit and soft oak spice that indicates the promise of great things to come for this wine…if you can leave it alone long enough!"

5 Stars & 93/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, October 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"Beautifully fruited and fragrant, the bouquet shows blackberry, sweet cherry, mixed spice and vanillin oak characters, leading to a succulent palate that's plump and weighty. Generously textured with well-balanced tannins, offering terrific drinking. At its best: now to 2034."

93/100 Ken Gargett, WinePilot.com, February 2025 (2022 Vintage)
"The only thing that this wine will please more than the crowd are the wallets they carry. This is always a deservedly popular Clare Shiraz. An intense vibrant crimson hue, this is all chocolate and blackberries with plums, root vegetables, cloves, bay leaves, soy and licorice. A touch of cassis on the finish ties it together. This is a savoury style with a supple texture, sleek tannins, good balance, fine acidity and real length. There is good intensity throughout and it will prove why it is so popular, over the next eight to ten years. Cracking value."

93/100 Tony Love, WinePilot.com, June 2025 (2022 Vintage)
"The Pink Floyd album of the same name as this wine was a progressive music blockbuster, quite deep at times in its own style of story-telling. This Shiraz provides its own set of complexities: a smoky, charry, meaty layering in its aromatic greeting, dark roasted root veggies as well, while the fruit senses are mainly in the black cherry spectrum. Once tasted, there’s no escaping the darker fruit, high percentage cacao and obvious ground pepper notes. Give this some air-time for the wine to reveal the purity in its fruit expression, albeit dark-sided, as there’s plenty to appreciate now with a promise it will evolve successfully over the next 10 years. Excellent value."