Peter Lehman Clancy's Barossa

A few years back I had the Clancy's Gold at a very large dinner party. You could have used the wine to defined over oaking. Even the people that were not into wine gave it a wide birth. Six or seven months later I had the same vintage again and it was beautiful with as much varietal character as I have ever tasted in a Shiraz blend. I talked to the US importer (who is here in the DC area ) about the oakiness and he agreed that the original batch was almost undrinkable and had no explanation of how it was fixed. I saw the Clancy's Barossa just last night. I think it is the same wine.

That's odd - the 2003 vintage Clancy's hasn't been released yet. In fact, the 2002 was just released recently according to the Peter Lehmann web site:

'&id=3

...And curiously, the PDF tasting note for the 2002 vintage is titled "02 Clancy USA". Which might explain why I still see plenty of stock of the

2001 around in shops here in Melbourne, and have yet to lay eyes on the '02.

When it sells for around AUD$10 it's terrific value.

I've never heard of Clancy's Gold (perhaps a white blend that was paired with the old "Clancy's Red" as it used to be known?) but the pecking order with the Lehmann wines has "The Barossa" one level above Clancy's, the latter being designed more as a quaffing wine (but a very nice quaffing wine, with oak aplenty :-)

- Anthony

Went to the store today, and found it exactly as you note--it's the

2002 vintage.

The sale price was $12.99 US. It sounds like a special export edition for US consumption. Will post some TN impressions when I get to pull a cork in the next few days. Gotta taste before the sale ends.

Clancy's Gold was a blend of reds--Shiraz, Cab Sauv, Merlot and Cab Franc. More than half Shiraz, about a third CS, then dribbles of the other two. Tended, at least in my notes, to be a bit muddy.

The Barossa, as you note as well, at least in the years I've got notes for, was above the Clancy's Gold in price. The Gold was usually $12-14 US, while the Barossa ran $18-20.

Probably consolidating the names into a single US directed bottling at the lower price point is a marketing decision.

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled" Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN #1-58834-103-8

I think that we have found a trend. First we saw a difference in the labels of the Grange based on where it was marketed and now Lehmann wines have different labels. I wonder if this common now through out the Australian wine business.

On Thu, 06 May 2004 07:40:02 -0600, Ed Rasimus took the time to tell us :

Ed, Lehman is mostly known for his Shiraz and Semillon. Both age beautifully. His '98 Barossa, which is a widely available wine down here ($18-20 AUD), won the London International Best Red Trophy a few years ago (IIRC). His wines above that level, The Mentor, and Stonewall Shiraz' are amongst my fave Aussie Reds.

At a recent birthday, I had the pleasure of drinking his 96 Stonewall Shiraz, and it was superb. Only D'Arenberg's Dead Arm Shiraz, and the one that stole the night (MtLangi Ghiran 98 Shiraz), were appreciated more. Needless to say, between the above, with Steve Hoff's Heriatge (00), William Randell '99 (Thorn Clark- Barossa) and a bottle of Gehrig's 98 Durif Port, I can tell you the celebrations went late into the night. :>)

Regards Swooper

It seems so; one example would be Penfolds' "Thomas Hyland" range, which was available in the US for a long time before finally being released here early last year...

And then of course there's the story I used to hear about how Rosemount tailored their "Diamond Label" range specifically for US consumption, and gave the locals a very different wine. Unsubstantiated, of course :)

- Anthony

That sounds like what sold here as the 2000 Clancy's Red, which mentioned all four varietals on the label. The 2001 still contained a splash of Cabernet Franc, but that wasn't mentioned on the label.

I greatly preferred the 2000 to the 2001, though both are above average at the price.

Sounds very much like the pricing structure here in Australia as well.

I'm just curious whether we'll see the 2002 Clancy's here any time soon :)

- Anthony